Tale of Lenya Mahariel
by Vralenalien
Summary: This is a tale of Dalish elf Lenya Mahariel who is thrust into the center of the events during the fifth Blight. FemMahariel&Leliana. Rated M. - Chapter 38 is up. Lenya and others arrive to the village of Haven.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is story of my female Dalish elf Warden Lenya and what happen to her during the events on Dragon Age: Origins and maybe even on Awakening and beyond. There will be f/f romance in this story so if that's something that bothers you, this is not a story for you.**

**This is my first Dragon Age: Origins FanFic and also first ever fanfic I uploaded on FanFiction. net. Huge thanks to my dear friend Faelan for her support and for putting up with me when I ask her to read all my stories and chapters before they are even finished.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize is owned by Bioware. Lenya and the stuff you don't is mine.**

**Rated to M  
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**Updated, August 19th, 2013: Fixed grammatical errors and other errors**

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><p><strong>On the road to Ostagar<strong>

While Lenya sat and stared at the fire the shemlen had made, she could only wonder how her life had changed. All because of that small decision, she and Tamlen had made, to go and check the cave those scared shems had found.

She furiously wiped off the lonely tear that had formed in her eye when the thought of Tamlen crossed her mind. She would not show weakness in front of that shem. Warden or not.

To his credit the shem stayed away from her and let her sit alone in her thoughts. Out of respect or because she'd threatened him with her sword. She didn't care as long as he let her alone.

Trying not to think about poor Tamlen she brought Merrill in her mind. Telling goodbye to her had been the hardest thing she'd ever done. Letting out a deep sigh, she brought the last kiss with Merrill to her mind. Their relationship had been a secret. Only Tamlen and probably Marethari, very little escaped the Keeper, had known about it.

Everyone else had always assumed that she'd had her eyes on Tamlen and they'd been happy to let them think that.

"Poor Tamlen..." Lenya whispered, "You will never find your dream girl from the gathering of the clans now," She talked to the fire and was oblivious to the tears that ran down her cheeks.

"Did you say something?" The shem asked and appeared to the circle of light the fire had created.

"No!" Lenya snarled, "I did not say anything to you shem," She added furiously.

"You should save that fury to the time when you need it," The shem said, "Like when we have to keep a very harsh pace so the taint within you does not kill you before we even get to the Ostagar."

"You just worry of your own strength shem," Lenya retorted. She really didn't need some stinking shem telling her how to move fast.

"Would you like to train with those weapons of yours while we both are awake anyway?" The shem asked then, dropping the subject of travel, "It might take your mind of from the recent events."

"And what makes you think I want to take my mind off from them shem?" She asked angrily. Why was this shem bothering her now?

"My mistake then, Lenya," The shem said and disappeared into the shadows again. He was skilled on that, she gave him that. Probably almost as good as the best hunters of the Dalish.

Muttering curses in her own language she readied her bedroll and within seconds she fell asleep.

And was awakened by her own scream and the fact that the shem was shaking her. She reacted on pure instinct and tried to hit the man, but he dodged her fist easily and stepped away from her, giving her more space.

"I'm sorry to have startled you, but you were screaming so loud that I think they might have heard you in Ostagar," The shem said.

"The dream was so vivid," She muttered, "Tamlen was shouting help in the cave and I just left him there to die and saved myself," She continued speaking to herself. Not caring that the shem was standing right there, "Seeing his accusing stare was too much to bear. He was saying that how did I dare to survive when he died."

"There was nothing you could have done to save your friend," The shem said, "Even if we'd found him from the cave it would have been too late to save him. It was pure miracle that your keeper could halt the taints progression in you enough that we can get you to the Ostagar and to the cure."

"Yes, you said that to me already in the ruins," Lenya said, "Do all shems have such a poor memory?" She asked nastily.

"No, just me," Shem replied smiling. Despite herself Lenya chuckled at the man.

"Thank you, Duncan," She said finally. She might be a shem, but he was also very respectful of what she needed so he earned some trust from her.

"You're welcome, Lenya," Duncan nodded smiling, "Shall we get going or do you want to eat something first?"

"I can eat while we walk," Lenya replied, "I want some distance between me and this place," She would never admit it to a shem, but after her nightmare this place was creeping the hell out of her.

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><p>It took nearly a week for them to get to the Ostagar. Lenya kept waking them up in the morning by screaming her lungs out and each morning they left without eating a breakfast. If that annoyed Duncan he did not say anything about it to her.<p>

Nightmares started to get better though and the guilt of being alive while Tamlen was not, started to ease a bit as well. Most likely those two things were connected.

Duncan had repeated his offer for training every night and on third evening she'd accepted it and she was grateful that she'd done so. Like Duncan had said it kept her from thinking the events too much. Mainly Tamlen. Merrill she did want to think about. Maybe even more than was healthy.

"There it is," Duncan said and pointed at the huge tower in the distance, "Ostagar."

Lenya stopped and studied the tower. "It looks like it's in ruins," Then she rubbed her temples. She was getting a headache again. Duncan said it was the taint starting to gain more ground in her again. Apparently he could feel it in her somehow. Which was creeping the hell out of her, after he'd told her about it. She did not want any shem feeling things from her. Let alone a male shem.

"That's because it is mostly in ruins," Duncan said, "Kings army has occupied some of the intact buildings like lower levels of the Tower of Ishal, but main part of the army is camping outside."

"So you are taking me into a camp where majority of it's occupants sees me as a servant," Lenya muttered to herself, "Wonderful."

"In there you are not just an elf, Lenya. You are a Grey Warden as well," Duncan said.

"Only if you cut my ears off and paint a sign on my forehead saying I am a Grey Warden," Lenya said, her voice dripping sarcasm, "You shems always see only what you like to see. No matter what."

Duncan shook his head and sighed. Which made Lenya grin to herself. Duncan was not bad for a shem, but she had no idea why he kept trying to tell her that majority of the shems were not as bad as she thought them to be. His continued efforts just made Lenya tease him about it relentlessly.

"Never mind," Duncan said, "Let's go, so we can get your Joining underway."

"What's this Joining?" Lenya asked while they walked towards the tower.

"It's a brief ritual every Grey Warden goes through and it is the cure I promised your keeper we have," Duncan explained.

"If I have to dance naked under the moonlight I'll just want you to know that I rather die on the taint than do that," Lenya said and Duncan burst out laughing.

"Nothing like that I assure you," He said still laughing, "It does require killing darkspawn though."

"Good!" Lenya said and her eyes lit up with furious anger, "Those blasted things are why I am walking into the camp full of stinking shems so it's about time I get to kill the filthy things."

Duncan wisely stayed quiet. He was wondering though, did the furious Dalish woman mean the darkspawn or the humans when she talked about filthy things. He hoped it was the darkspawn.

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><p>After their meeting with the shem king, Duncan left her, standing alone at the start of the bridge.<p>

She walked to the edge of the bridge and let her eyes wander on the mountains in the distance. Air felt cool against her skin. Cool and soothing somehow.

So, calling the king a fool, even if he wasn't present, was not a good thing to do. Even though she got the impression that Duncan himself thought the king to be a fool as well. Apparently it was more important that he supported the Grey Wardens than that he possessed brains.

She hoped that whoever this Loghain, that Duncan had mentioned, was owned the brains.

It would be just her luck to get cured of one thing and die because shemlen stupidity.

"I guess it's time for me to go and find this Alistair," She said aloud and started to walk over the bridge.

When she arrived to the other end of the bridge, a shem wearing an armor started to talk to her and offered to give her directions. His respectful tone got Lenya off guard and she had to check if her mouth was hanging open.

After asking the guard few questions about the place and people there she continued further in to the camp.

She was not ready to give up disbelief for Duncan's words, that the people here were not seeing her as elven just because one man treated her with respect, but it did make her think.

"Greetings, young lady. You're Duncan's new recruit are you not?" An old woman in robes said to her when she was walking past her, "He's not man easily impressed."

Why was this woman talking to her? - Lenya thought and stopped, "Yes?" She offered questioningly.

"I am Wynne. One the mages brought here to help fight the darkspawn," The old woman introduced herself.

"I'm Lenya and I guess I'm also brought here to fight the darkspawn," She said while trying to figure the woman out. Mainly she wanted to know, why was she talking to her.

"Darkspawn, they say it was the sin of men that brought the darkspawn upon us," Wynne continued, "At least that's what the chantry says."

Lenya let out sound that was mostly disgust, "Chantry says a lot of things. Like kill everyone who doesn't believe in their Maker," By the Creators she would slap this old bat silly if she would try to shove the Maker nonsense in her way.

Obviously the woman was much wiser than that since she just ignored Lenya's comment about the Maker, "It might be allegory. There to teach us to watch our actions."

"I'll just kill every damn darkspawn I see. Someone else can sort out why in the name of the Creators they are here," Lenya muttered.

"Very sensible attitude. It has served me well in the past," Wynne says, "But I'm sure Duncan has more for you to do than talk to me."

What? - Lenya thought. She wouldn't even talked to the old bat if she'd not started to talk to her in the first place. Shems were obviously insane and incapable of making sense. She continued to walk towards where this Alistair was supposed to be.

"You there, elf! Where's my armor?" Someone was yelling at her. That sounded more like how she'd imagined shems talking. Like she was some servant, "And why are you dressed like that?" A man took hold of her arm and tried to pull her to his way.

"Because I'm not your damn servant you ignorant little shem," Lenya said turning to face the man who was talking to her, "And unless you want to lose that hand of yours you will let my arm go," She emphasized her words by unsheathing her dagger and placing it under the man's chin with one fluid motion. The man released her arm like it was on fire, "Now, be a good little boy and tell me where I can find a Grey Warden called Alistair."

The man tried not to swallow in fear of Lenya's dagger cutting his throat, but he managed to point in one direction, "Now back away slowly and start treating your servants better," Lenya said while removing her dagger from his throat. Very slowly the man backed away from her and when he was back at his own place she saw how he sighed in relief.

"Well, you're not what I thought you'd be," Another voice said on her right. When she turned to look there, she noticed another shem studying her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked and sheathed her dagger.

"Nothing, just me and Ser Knight waging a little bet of what the third recruit would be," The man replied, "Not an elf. Yet here you are," Oddly enough his words didn't bother Lenya. There was something in the man that felt honest to her. Like he wasn't judging her based on her race. That was of course absurd notion since he was a shem.

Lenya didn't stop his ramblings except to answer few questions he asked. Other than that he seemed quite happy to hear his own voice. He introduced himself as Daveth and then he said he was going to see Duncan because she was now here.

"What an odd man," Lenya shook her head after Daveth had left. Still baffled about it, she continued her way to this Alistair. Hoping that no one else would interrupt her again.

First thing she heard while getting closer to the place where this Alistair was supposed to be, was very annoyed male voice complaining about how the mages where there by the kings order and that the one he was talking should stop harassing him. Then she heard another voice that sounded amused.

"Yes, I was harassing you by delivering a message," Then she saw the speaker. It was a blond haired young man with an amused expression on his face.

"Your glibness does you no credit," The other man, most likely a mage since he was wearing same kind of robe that old bat had been wearing, said.

"Here I thought we were getting along so well. I was even going to name one of my children after you... the grumpy one," Younger man said his voice still amused.

"Enough, I will speak to the woman if I must! Get out of my way fool," The mage said and stormed off.

The younger man followed him with his eyes and then seemed to notice Lenya, "You know, one good thing about the blight is how it brings people together," He said to her.

Lenya stared at him for a bit, "You are a very strange human." She said finally. That was an damn understatement, but asking if he was dropped in his head as a child was not perhaps the most diplomatic way to start talking. Even to a shem.

"You're not the first person to tell me that," The man said smiling and then he seemed to focus on her, "Wait, we haven't met, have we? I don't suppose you happen to be another mage?" He then asked curiously.

"Would that make your day worse?" Lenya asked lifting her brow.

"Hardly, I just like to know my chances of being turned in to a toad at any given moment," The man replied and then he stopped and focused even more to her. It started to get bit uncomfortable how the man kept staring at her more intently, "Wait, I do know who you are. You are Duncan's new recruit, the Dalish," He said suddenly, "I should have recognized you right away. I apologize," He continued.

"How could you recognize me?" Lenya asked looking puzzled.

"Duncan sent a word. He spoke quite highly of you," The man replied.

Wait, what? Lenya thought. When in the name of the Creators did Duncan manage to send messages? They'd not seen anyone while traveling, but now that she thought about it, the king had also said that the other Wardens had told him about her.

"Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Alistair, the new Grey Warden, though I guess you knew that," He said. Well, at least she'd found the correct shem - Lenya thought - That was something, "As the junior member of our order I will be accompanying you when you prepare for the Joining."

He didn't just say he was accompanying her, did he? Lenya thought. As if he needed a shem man following her around, "I can't prepare on my own?" She asked almost spitting the words out.

"I know," The man, Alistair, said smiling, even though she was probably staring at him less than kindly, "I felt the same way when I did this. Unfortunately they don't give us much choice," He continued and Lenya sighed. It was not his fault so beating him would be pointless and she doubted she could go beat Duncan. The old shem was damn skilled with his two weapons.

"You know... it just occurred to me that there has never been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why is that," Alistair continued to talk.

"You want more women in the Wardens, do you?" Lenya asked and gave him a stare. Usually when men said something like that they were not thinking with their heads.

"Would that be so bad?" Alistair asked and then he noticed her stare, "Not that I'm some drooling lecher or anything. Don't look at me like that," He fumbled in his words and then did something Lenya had not expected. He blushed.

"That's kind of cute," Lenya grinned, "Is the blushing a Grey Warden thing?" She asked and burst out laughing when Alistair turned even more brightly red than he already had been.

Lenya heard him muttering something about an evil woman which made her grin even wider. Having him following her might be fun after all. He was not like Daveth who obviously had checked her out the moment he saw her. He was more like Tamlen had been before he knew she liked women not men. Awkward, bumbling and not to mention rambling a lot. She liked to listen ramblings. Specially Merrill's ramblings.

Thought of Tamlen darkened her mood immediately and the shem must have picked that up since his face turned cautious, "So, I'm curious. Have you ever actually encountered darkspawn before?"

"Yes, just recently," Her voice dropped below zero and her eyes started to shine with fury again. She could literally feel it. So could Alistair since he seemed to visibly shudder.

"I've only fought them once up close. And that was before the battles here started... Which Duncan has kept me out of so far," Alistair said and it was clear that he was trying to ignore the murderous fury Lenya had started to radiate, "Tell me, did you find them as monstrous as I did?"

How should she know how monstrous he'd found them. Shems were baffling, "Hideous. Dangerous, but killable," She replied. Very killable. Her slight frame started to shake when she thought about killing all the damn filthy creatures that had ruined her life.

"You'll be at an advantage then. Most new recruits have never even seen darkspawn," Alistair said and took cautious step away from her. He was actually scared of her. How nice, "Anyhow, when ever you are ready lets head to Duncan. I imagine that he's eager to get things started."

"You don't have to accompany me, do you?" Lenya asked hopefully, but she already saw the answer on the young man's posture. So she was sighing in defeat before Alistair answered.

"Don't worry, I try not to embarrass you," He said. Lenya really doubted he would succeed in that, but she let it go and headed back where she'd come for. Alistair seemed all too happy to follow her.

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><p>Alistair had never seen a Dalish elf before and his first one seemed to be at least a little crazy. She seemed polite and mostly diplomatic, but when he'd mentioned darkspawn, her whole being had changed into a barely contained fury.<p>

He was glad that she'd not been like that when he'd made an fool out of himself with the Warden women issue.

He was answering her questions while they walked and he noticed right away that she didn't have very high opinion of humans and that she was quite practical. That he noticed when he was telling how Duncan had recruited him. She just said that maybe Duncan thought he was useful. He answered that a little bit more bite than he'd intended, but she didn't seem to care.

When they were walking past the camp trader he noticed that the trader was watching his companion with scared eyes and clearly hoping she would not go closer.

"Why is that merchant watching you like that?" Alistair asked when they were past the trader.

"Because he was yelling at me like I was some servant of his and because I threatened to cut his hand off if he don't take his hand off me," She replied shrugging her shoulders like that was perfectly normal thing to do.

"We can't go threatening people," Alistair pointed out to her.

"Then he should keep his hand to himself and not think I'm a servant just because I have pointy ears," She said and Alistair could hear the disgust in her voice, "I am one of the People, not some flat eared servant you shems have in your cities doing all the works you are too high and mighty to do yourself," And now her voice was pretty much dripping venom.

Alistair was still digesting her words when he saw a sure disaster about to happen. Chantry priestess started to talk with the Dalish. Who looked at the woman like she was a darkspawn. He hastened his steps and got to her just as she was saying, "And if you don't, He destroys your home and kills your brothers and sisters?"

"I will not talk politics here. Take your hatred somewhere else," The priestess said angrily.

"Nice talking with you," The Dalish woman said sarcastically, "I'm sure your god is happy of your fervor in smiting the unbelievers," After that she just left the fuming priestess standing there, "Good thing I don't have a clan anymore so she can't go and destroy it," She muttered while walking. Just loud enough that Alistair could hear her.

Then he noticed that Ser Jory had started to talk with her and he stayed out of his sight so he could hear what they talked about.

"Greetings. You must be the third recruit we've heard about," Ser Jory was saying.

"You've heard about me?" The Dalish asked.

"Not a great deal. We've been waiting for your arrival though," Ser Jory replied, "I wasn't aware elves could join the Grey Wardens. Those camped outside are all humans," He continued, making Alistair wince.

"Do you have problem with that?" The Dalish asked and her voice became threatening. Now that Alistair heard that voice, he didn't blame the trader for his wild eyed fear towards her. She was really intimidating for someone so delicate.

"No," Ser Jory shook his head, clearly taken aback by her voice. He didn't blame him either, "Clearly, Grey wardens pick their recruits on their merits," He continued, "I hope we're both lucky to eventually join the Wardens," Alistair hoped that also. Poor sods, "Is it not thrilling to be given that chance?" Ser Jory asked then.

Answer she gave him was not what Alistair had been expecting though. He didn't know why he'd expected her to have same attitude towards joining the Wardens as he'd had, "I wouldn't be here if I had choice in the matter," She said making Alistair curious. How had Duncan got her to come with him. Right of Conscription did not bind the Dalish as far as he knew. He doubted the Dalish did give a damn about human king granting rights to Wardens to conscript. If Dalish had some other agreement with the Wardens he didn't know about it.

While thinking about that, he'd missed the rest of the conversation and saw Jory leaving towards Duncan's tent.

"Are you going to stand there long?" Alistair heard her voice asking behind him. How did she do that? When he turned around he saw she was already heading towards the pyre where Duncan was standing.

"Ah, Lenya, you found Alistair, did you?" Alistair heard Duncan asking from the Dalish woman. As well as her puzzled answer, "Obviously," Which made Duncan chuckle at her, "Good. I assume you are ready to begin preparations," He was looking at the Dalish while he spoke. Not the other two recruits. That was curious. Duncan must see something extraordinary in the furious Dalish woman. Something that the other two were lacking. He didn't have time to wonder that more because Duncan turned to him next, "Assuming, of course, that you are quite finished riling up the mages, Alistair," Uh-oh - Alistair thought. How did he manage find about that already?

"What can I say? The revered mother ambushed me. The way she wields guilt they should stick her in the army," Alistair tried to lighten the truth, but he already saw that it didn't work on Duncan. The Dalish, Lenya, on the other hand was looking at him not even trying to hide her amusement of his predicament. Lenya, what a lovely name for the barely contained fury, she was - his mind absentmindedly wondered while the other part was getting ready to apologize of his behavior.

"She forced you to sass the mage, did she?" Duncan asked and he was right, "We cannot afford to antagonize anyone, Alistair. We don't need to give anyone more ammunition against us," Oh, if the earth would just swallow him now. Lenya was still looking at him amused. Even Daveth and Jory did that to a some extent, but their reaction didn't bother him at all. It was the little Dalish woman with deep blue eyes that seemed to radiate danger that made him feel small.

"You're right Duncan, I apologize," Alistair said and kept his eyes away from the Dalish.

Duncan nodded at him and then explained what was required from them in the wilds. It was again Lenya who asked questions to clarify what was needed. It was kind of fascinating to see how Daveth and Jory both just waited her to take the lead.

"Take good care of your charges, Alistair. Return quickly and safely," Duncan said to him, snapping him out of his thoughts concerning the Dalish woman.

"We will," Alistair said.

"Then may the Maker watch over your path," Duncan said. Alistair heard a resigned sigh from the Dalish. She was probably getting more than enough of the Maker already, "I will see you when you return."

The Dalish was walking towards the kennels and both male recruits were following her like a pair of puppies.

"She's quite a handful isn't she," Duncan said when those three were out of hearing range.

"You could say that," Alistair nodded, "She threatened to cut the traders hand off."

"I heard," Duncan nodded, "Can't really blame her. She doesn't have very high opinion of humans to begin with and the trader did try to treat her like a servant. You don't do that to a Dalish elf."

"I heard her tell Jory that she's not here by choice," Alistair said and looked at the direction Lenya had gone.

"No, she's not," Duncan said and his voice turned sad, "She and her friend got tainted by the darkspawn taint and without her Keeper she would have already died because of it. I know you can feel the taint in her," Duncan explained and Alistair nodded. He'd felt it as soon as he'd seen her, but until now he'd not known what it was he'd felt, "She really don't have any other options. Either she goes through the Joining or the taint kills her or worse."

"Are you sure it was wise to bring someone here who doesn't want to be a Grey Warden?" Alistair asked worriedly. He'd already seen that Lenya didn't have any respect to the chantry and very little to humans.

"She is very honorable and extremely loyal to those who can win her trust. I think she started to trust me a little while we were traveling together, but nowhere near enough for her to talk to me about anything even remotely personal. Her Keeper also told me that she is very independent, but really good at organizing things. Hunts to be more specific," Duncan explained, "She is also an exceptional fighter."

"I noticed that you treated her like a leader of the recruits," Alistair pointed out.

"That's because she is," Duncan said, "Jory and Daveth both expected her to take the lead. Even without knowing it. She projects very confident aura of leadership around her even without her knowing it."

"I noticed that," Alistair nodded, "I also have a feeling that she thinks I'm an idiot," He confessed.

"Don't worry Alistair. She thinks all humans are," Duncan chuckled, "Up until you earn her trust."

"I doubt I will ever earn enough of her trust, for her not to think I'm an idiot," He sighed, "She already thinks I'm a drooling lecher or something."

"Alistair," Duncan sighed, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement, "You better go now before she decides to leave you here and go alone in the wilds."

"Right," Alistair said and waved goodbye to Duncan before turning to follow the recruits.

When he got closer to the kennels he heard something he didn't quite understand. Lenya was talking to someone with a gentle voice, "There you go, lethallin," He heard her saying and then he saw her patting a huge mabari like it was a small lap dog. Mabari had a muzzle on, but that didn't make it any more dangerous looking.

"She just went in there and put that muzzle on to that dog," Ser Jory said and his eyes were wide, "She is crazy isn't she?" He asked.

"No she's not, Ser knight," Daveth said, "Anyone could see that she's skilled with animals."

"He speaks truly," The kennel master said, "I've rarely seen such skill from someone who's not handled mabari before."

"Now you let that nice shem there to treat you and I see if I can find the flower he needs from the wilds to make you all better," Lenya didn't pay any attention to the men who seemed to be in awe of her actions. She was gently stroking the animal, "Who's a good boy?" She patted the dog one more time before getting out of the pen and nodded at the kennel master before heading to the gate that lead out to the wilds.

"We better follow her," Alistair said and followed the little Dalish woman who was now talking to an Ash warrior.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: That's Chapter 1 and introduction to Lenya.**

**I use the in game dialogs as a base of those conversations that happen in the game, but changing them occasionally to suit Lenya better or how I saw the scene in my head.**

**Reviews and constructive criticism is welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Second chapter is ready. Speed I got this written surprised me, but I don't complain. Maybe it's Lenya herself standing behind me and making me write this.**

**Thanks to all those who reviewed, faved and added Lenya's story to alerts. Special thanks to Faelan who bravely reads all the unfinished chapters, multiple times sometimes.**

**Normal disclaimer. Everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and all you don't belongs to me.**

**Update, August 2013: Fixed grammar errors and other errors**

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><p><strong>Korcari wilds<strong>

Wilds were not so much different than the forest she'd lived her whole life. Perhaps a little bit more wet, but that was not something that bothered her. What did bother her was the feeling she got from the air. Like something foul was moving through it.

She moved through the land without making a sound, but same could not be said of the shems that followed her at some distance away. Only Daveth had at least rudimentary skills of moving silently, but that was to expected since he had been a thief in his shemlen city.

Alistair and the other tin man made more noise than her whole clan made when they moved with their Aravels.

Suddenly she felt something, like a change in the air and she stopped, giving a signal to the others to stop. When the sounds quieted down she heard it. Something four legged moving towards them and if the signs she saw around her were anything to go on, they were about to be attacked by wolves. Not the prey she was hoping for, but these wolves were most likely desperate enough to attack anything that moved in the forest. Not much to eat in the wilds anymore. Probably because of the darkspawn.

"You might want to prepare your weapons because we are about to be attacked by wolves," She said, raising her voice enough that the shems could hear her.

Only few moments later the first wolf leaped towards her from the under bush, but she was no longer there. Rolling sideways she avoided the maw of the beast and cut the head off from it.

* * *

><p>"Do you think she's right?" Ser Jory asked from him after Lenya's warning.<p>

"She's Dalish," Alistair said and readied his sword and shield. Just in time to see how Lenya decapitated a wolf that had attacked her, "I think there's your answer," He said and ran towards the Dalish woman who had already killed two more of the wolves.

It didn't take them long to kill all the wolves. Mainly because of Lenya's warning and because she killed five of them.

"That was incredible fighting there," Alistair said to her.

"That?" Lenya asked and then started to laugh, leaving him standing there puzzled.

"You sure she's not a rogue?" Daveth asked, "She certainly moves like one."

"Anything is possible I think, but she said she's a warrior of her people, not a hunter, which I guess would be what rogues are called in her clan," Alistair said. That was a pretty much all he'd managed to find out about her so far. She was pretty reluctant to speak of herself with him or anyone for that matter.

"She's crazy," Ser Jory said, "No one should attack wolves like that while wearing what she is wearing."

"Except that she's not even injured so we should assume she knows what she's doing," Daveth pointed out.

"Are you going to just stand there and wait the darkspawn to come to you?" Lenya asked appearing from behind the tree opposite side where she'd left moments ago. She had some herbs in her hands and while they watched her trying to discern if she'd heard what they had been saying, she put the herbs in the pouch on her belt, "There's a wounded shem ahead. From the looks of it he and his friends have been ambushed by the darkspawn."

"Why didn't you help him?" Ser Jory asked angrily.

"Because all the health poultices we have are on Alistair's bag and even though I can make poultices, I would need fire and materials for them," Lenya said and gave Jory a nasty look. Lenya really didn't like Jory. She thought Jory had abandoned his pregnant wife to find glory with the Grey Wardens and Ser Jory complained all the time. Truth to be told he was getting on Alistair's nerves as well, but he was the Grey Warden here so he couldn't just go and yell at him like she did. It also didn't really help that Jory called Lenya crazy all the time.

"Let's go see what we can find out from him," Alistair said and motioned Lenya to lead them to the man she'd found.

* * *

><p>Lenya really didn't like Jory. He boasted how he had fought for the opportunity to be picked up by Duncan. Made a show of how great he was and then whined all the time about how it was bloody unfair or something that he still had to prove himself.<p>

He had a pregnant wife at home and he chose to go after glory by joining the Grey Wardens. Lenya understood the need to protect the family, but that was not why Ser Jory had wanted to join. He was like the fool king who only thought about the glory of the battle.

"There's your wounded shem," Lenya pointed at the wounded man. She had already checked the wounds of the man when she had found him, so she didn't see a need to go closer this time.

"He's not nearly as dead as he looks," Alistair said and bandaged the mans wounds and gave him one of their healing poultices. Lenya didn't hear what the man said to Alistair, nor did she care.

Grunting in pain the wounded shem got up from the ground and thanked Alistair. When he went past Lenya he nodded in gratitude before slowly walking towards the ruins of Ostagar. She hoped he didn't get eaten by the wolves.

"Did you hear!" The fool shem said with agitated voice, "An entire patrol of seasoned men killed by darkspawn!"

"Calm down, Ser Jory. We'll be fine if we are careful," Alistair tried to calm the man. Lenya didn't know how in the name of the Creators that man thought he'd be suitable to be even a warrior let alone a Grey Warden.

"Those men were careful and they were still overwhelmed," Ser Jory's voice got even more agitated, "How many darkspawn can the four of us slay? A dozen? A hundred? There's entire army in these forests."

"There are darkspawn about, but we are in no danger of walking into the bulk of the horde," Alistair said, his voice still calm. He may be a bit of an idiot when he tried to talk to a woman, but he was in no way a coward. He was calm and collected like a warrior should be.

"How do you know? I'm not a coward, but this is foolhardy and reckless. We should go back," Ser Jory said making Lenya snort. Oh, he was not a coward? "You have something to say elf!" Ser Jory said to her.

"To you?" Lenya asked, "Not much. You've done nothing, but complained ever since we came into the wilds. Telling how you fought for the honor of getting recruited by Duncan and then when you see the first sign of what those hideous creatures can do, you want to go back and probably hoping you can meet your first darkspawn while it's caged so it can't possibly hurt you. You are saying that you're not a coward. Then by the Creators prove it and stop whining," After that she turned around and left the dumbfounded men standing there.

* * *

><p>Alistair watched the leaving Dalish with something that might be called a stunned shock. He notice that Daveth's eyes were approving and Ser Jory's face was red from the anger and shame. He could understand that. Lenya had an ability to make you feel ashamed of yourself even if you'd not done anything shameful and Ser Jory knew that what Lenya had said was true. Even if she could have been a bit more diplomatic how to say that to him.<p>

"Quite spirited little lady," Daveth said breaking the silence.

"You have no idea," Alistair said, "You alright, Ser Jory?" He asked then.

"I think so," Ser Jory replied, "I still don't relish the thought of encountering the army," He added then.

"Know this. All Grey Wardens can sense darkspawn. Whatever their cunning. I guarantee that they wont take us by surprise. That's why I'm here," Alistair explained.

"You see, Ser knight. We might die, but we are warned about it first," Daveth said making Alistair chuckle. Not the way he would have put it to Ser Jory, but it seemed to work.

"That's... reassuring!" Ser Jory said.

"I'm not here to make this easy on you however," Alistair pointed out, "We better go after her before she kills all the darkspawns on her own."

They found Lenya from little further in. She was studying a flower, "And the tin men arrives," Alistair heard her saying, "Daveth," She then said, "Do you think this is the flower the kennel master talked about?"

"It sure looks like one," Daveth replied after studying the flower.

"I thought so too," Lenya nodded and smiled at Daveth. Then she carefully picked up the flower while humming gently to herself.

Daveth gave Alistair a wondering look and he just shrugged. Lenya's moods were changing far too fast for him to track.

Then he felt it. Whispers in the back of her head, "Darkspawn," He warned, "Two hurlocks and three genlocks I believe."

"Genlocks are those smaller ones right?" Lenya asked and he nodded, "You and the whiner take on the hurlocks. Daveth and I kill the genlocks. They may use bows so be aware of it," She gave the orders with such confidence that he and Ser Jory were already doing as she told them to before they even noticed it. He noticed that Jory's face was red from anger and couldn't blame the man. Lenya didn't treat him very well.

Alistair knew the moment Ser Jory saw the darkspawn because his steps faltered and he was not running besides him anymore. Alistair's shield deflected one arrow and then the next. After that he lost track of the genlocks because he got face to face with two hurlocks.

Alistair killed the first one fast and focused on the second one and then Ser Jory joined him. He also noticed that Lenya was running towards the genlocks dodging the arrows they shot. Dodging and deflecting them with her sword. Duncan had been right; she was skilled. Very skilled.

When they finally got the second hurlock killed Alistair turned to go help Lenya and Daveth, but noticed that it was not needed anymore. Lenya was just finishing the last one. She'd run the genlock through with her dagger and then cut it's head off with her sword. Black blood spraying all over her.

"Ugh!" She heard her saying and saw her wiping the blood out of her face, "By the Creators I hate when that happens," She cursed and then like there was nothing to it she picked a vial from her belt pouch and started to fill it from the other genlock she'd killed, "You might want to try an fill yours when the blood is still flowing," She pointed out dryly.

"How can she be so calm?" Ser Jory asked, "She's covered in their blood and she just decapitated one of them."

"Warrior," Daveth simply said, "And her fighting is damn fine thing to watch. Such elegant beauty."

"If you keep that up shem, I'll dumb you into the swamp," Lenya said coming towards them, "So, did you get the blood?" She asked then.

Ser Jory nodded at her and Daveth showed his vial.

"You've wounded!" Alistair said noticing some red blood mixed on the black one in her arm.

"No I'm not," Lenya said, "That's a scratch, not a wound," She looked at the little cut in her arm.

"You should get yourself an armor that covers you better," He said and then he blushed with no good reason.

"If you keep that up I will start to think that the blushing really is a Grey Warden thing," Lenya chuckled at him, "I'll think about it, but don't promise you anything. Not sure I want to be a tin man like you two, but now I need to find some water," With that she left them standing there again.

"One part of our mission done and you've met your first darkspawn," Alistair said to the two recruit, "How do you feel?"

* * *

><p>Lenya heard Alistair's question, but not what the other shems replied to him. Her own reply would be murderous fury. It had been feeling so good to kill those damned things that it scared her a little. Ever since Tamlen had touched that cursed mirror she'd had a difficulties to remain calm when darkspawn were talked about or when she saw them.<p>

That fury inside her was scary, but at the same time it was soothing. She'd always been eager to fight. Trying to prove her worth to the hunters and to the other warriors. She'd been best young warrior in her clan. She was praised of it. Now she didn't know where she belonged anymore. Even if she would get cured of the taint inside her she'd been told that she could not go back to her clan anymore.

Still thinking about the fury inside her she got near the water and started to wash the blood away from her face. Only to notice a shem body floating near the shore. A shem in the hated chantry carps.

"Are they now trying to convert the darkspawn as well?" She asked aloud and went to the body and searched it. Finding only a soggy letter. Maybe Alistair might be interested in this - she thought and folded the letter to her pouch.

After she was done searching the body she went a bit farther from it to wash her face. Probably pointless thing to do if they encounter more darkspawn, but it made her feel a bit better.

When Lenya returned to the others she gave the letter to Alistair who wanted to see if the other person mentioned in it was still alive. Stupid thing to do, but they were going that way anyway so it didn't matter to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Several hours later<strong>

"By the Creators I hate this," Lenya cursed when Alistair tightened the bandage on her leg. Darkspawn emissary got a free shot with its spell on her while she was fighting a hurlock in a fancier armor. Alistair had called it an alpha. What ever that meant. Spell had slowed her down enough for the alpha to get a swing at her with its sword.

Wound wasn't life threatening, but darkspawn swords were as tainted as they were and the wound felt like it was burning.

"I can't do much more than this," Alistair said, "Poultice should heal the wound, but the taint can't be cured here. After the joining it should heal normally and I'm sure some of the mages in the camp can apply healing magic if necessary."

"I'll live," Lenya said and turned to look at Ser Jory who should have handled the other darkspawn letting Alistair get a shot at the emissary with his templar powers. What ever those were, "What happen, Ser Jory?" She asked.

"I took on the three you pointed at me and it seemed to work, but then one of them just left the fight and went after Alistair. While fighting the two others I couldn't get after it until I'd killed the two," Ser Jory explained and Lenya nodded. He'd done what she'd ordered him to do and it wasn't his fault if the darkspawn didn't cooperate.

"No clear shot for the one that got away," Daveth said before she even had time to ask. He'd more than likely saved her life. When the alpha had started its swing, an arrow had hit its arm and altered the course of the sword.

"Let's hope these bloody treaties are worth this," Lenya said and slowly walked to the ruins Alistair had said should contain the chest where the treaties were. Alistair looked like he would like to try and protest and to suggest that Lenya should rest or something equally stupid. Then he closed his mouth and followed her into the ruins.

"Seems like we are too late," Lenya said and pointed at the broken chest. Alistair started to curse, but stopped immediately when Lenya's head snapped up and she started to scan the surroundings. The men trusted at her better hearing and to her senses in general a lot more now than they'd done when they'd entered the wilds.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Picking through bones that had been long dead. Are you a scavenger or an intruder I wonder, coming to these darkspawn filled wilds of mine," Female voice said and a dark haired woman, staff on her back, stepped in view. She was obviously a mage, but there was also something animal in her. It was on how she moved with grace and elegance. Like a wolf. She might be a shapeshifter like some of the Keepers of the Dalish.

The woman stopped in front of Lenya and asked, "Hmm, what say you? Are you scavenger or intruder?"

She studied the woman for a moment and also took a glance at her companions. Daveth was terrified of the woman. Jory and Alistair looked wary of her. She would not get any help from them, "I'm neither and just how are these your wilds?" She asked finally.

The woman chuckled, "Because I know them like only one who owns them would. Can you claim the same?" She replied, "I have watched your progress for a some time. 'Where do they go?' I wondered. 'Where do they go?'"

"Don't answer her. She looks chasind and that means others might be nearby," Alistair said to her.

"Oh, You are afraid that barbarians might swoop on you?" Woman asked, her voice sarcastic.

"Yes... swooping is bad," Alistair replied making Lenya smile. Alistair might be a shem and an idiot, but he was funny.

"You there," The woman said and pointed at Lenya, "Women do not frighten like little boys. Tell me your name and I shall tell you mine."

She studied the woman again. Yes, she was a shem, but unlike the fools she was traveling with she was in tune with the nature around her, "You may call me Lenya," She finally replied.

"And you may call me Morrigan, if you wish," The woman said and then continued, "Shall I guess your purpose. You sought something from the chest. Something that is here no longer."

"Here no Longer!" Alistair interrupted, "You stole them didn't you. You're... some kind of... sneaky... witch-thief!" By the Creators. He did not just say that did he? And here she thought SHE lacked skills to converse with others.

"How very eloquent," The woman, Morrigan, said, "How does one steal from dead men?" She asked then.

"Quite easily it seems," Alistair said, "Those documents are property of the Grey Wardens and I suggest you return them," He continued making Lenya groan. That way they would never get the damn documents back. They didn't even know if the woman had been the one who took them.

"I will not," Morrigan said, "For 'twas not me who removed them. Invoke a name that means nothing here any longer if you wish. I am not threatened."

"You know who removed them?" Lenya asked before Alistair had chance to open his mouth again.

"'Twas my mother, in fact," Morrigan replied making Alistair open his mouth, but Lenya lifted her hand up, silencing him. To her surprise he did so.

"Can you take us to her?" She asked.

"There is a sensible request," Morrigan said smiling at her, "I like you."

"I'd be careful. First it's 'I like you!' and then it's 'zap!' frog time," Alistair said, but doesn't object to her decision at all.

She also heard Daveth saying that they will end up in a pot and Jory commenting it would be nice change for all the coldness of the swamp.

"Lead on, Morrigan," Lenya said, "Me and the fellowship of the tin men are following you."

Morrigan laughed at that and started off into the deeper in the wilds, Lenya right behind her and the three men following her like little puppies.

* * *

><p><strong>Hut in the wilds<strong>

It took some time before they saw a crude hut in the swamp. Journey had gone in silence. Men didn't dare to speak and Lenya didn't feel need to do so. As for Morrigan she didn't say anything to them either.

Air around the hut seemed to be void of the feeling rest of the swamps suffered and the old woman that was standing in front of the hut seemed to cheat Lenya's senses somehow. There was only one person she knew who could do that, but she'd always thought she was a myth. Even after Marethari had said she'd met her. You told that sort of things to children after all, did you not? - Lenya thought.

"Greetings mother, I bring you four Grey Wardens who..." Morrigan started, but the old woman stopped her, "I see them girl. hmm... Much as I expected."

"Are we supposed to believe you were expecting us?" Alistair asked incredulously.

"You are required to do nothing. Least of all believe. Shut ones eyes tight or open ones arms wide, either way ones a fool," The old woman said. She was just like in the stories Harren Paivel had told about her. Cryptic and enigmatic. Stories seemed to leave out that she was also nuts, but maybe it was better that way.

"She's a witch. We shouldn't be talking to her," Daveth said and Ser Jory replied to him, "Quiet, Daveth. If she's really a witch do you want to make her mad?" He asked. Sense from the knight. That surely was a surprise.

"There is a smart lad. Sadly irrelevant to the larger scheme of things, but it is not I who decides. Believe what you will," The old woman said and then turned to look at Lenya, "And what of you? Does your elven mind give you different view point? What do you believe?"

"I don't know what to believe, Asha'bellanar," She answered after a little while. Saying that the woman was nuts was most certainly a bad idea. It was tempting though.

"Woman of many years am I?" The old woman asked and then chuckled, "As for your statement. That possesses more wisdom than it implies. Be always aware... or was it oblivious. I can't never remember," Lenya didn't quite know what to think of the old woman. On the other hand she knew without a doubt that this was the Asha'bellanar of the stories, but she really acted like a nutty old bat, "So much about you is uncertain... and yet I believe," She continued to speak, "Do I? Why, it seems I do!" Nutty old bat or not Lenya didn't like the implications of her future she was making. It was said that Asha'bellanar saw into the future and those who were lucky enough to survive the encounter with her gained insights to their future.

"So this is a dreaded Witch of the wilds," Alistair said and his tone of voice told exactly what he thought of the old woman. He thought she was nutty old bat.

"Witch of the wilds, eh?" The old woman said. Her tone was amused, "Morrigan must have told you that. How she fancies such tales, though she would never admit it! Oh how she dances under the moon!" She burst out laughing. Lenya saw, that Morrigan was rolling her eyes.

"They did not come to listen your wild tales, mother," Morrigan said.

"True, they came for their treaties," The old woman said and the amusement disappeared from her like it had never been there. She fixed her stare on Alistair before she continued, "Before you start barking, your precious seal wore of long time ago. I've have protected these."

"You..." Alistair started angrily and then his brains catched up with his mouth, "You protected them?" He asked incredulously.

"And why not?" Old woman asked, "Take them to your Grey Wardens and tell them that this blights threat is greater than they realize!" She then added.

"I'm sure they are eager to listen to me and act on your advice," Lenya said. She was sure that if she went and told them that Asha'bellanar warned them about something they'd just think she's a crazy elf. Alistair obviously didn't believe the old woman and Daveth and Jory were pretty much petrified so she didn't even know how much they'd understood of what had been said. Just her luck.

"Well, I cannot be responsible for their doubts," Old woman said with indignant tone, "I would go mad! Or am I already?" She then added laughing. Powerful, dangerous and completely nuts. That was final conclusion Lenya had of the woman. Which was most likely false. This was Asha'bellanar after all, "Oh, don't mind me. You have what you came for!" The old woman said then.

"Time for you to go then," Morrigan said and her voice was now amused. Probably thinking that they would never get out of the wilds. She could be right as well. Lenya knew the way back, but they were now dealing with something that could make you get lost in the wilds with a thought.

"Don't be ridiculous girl," The old woman said, "These are your guests," Lenya saw Morrigan's amusement disappear and the old woman winked at her.

"Oh, very well. I'll show you the way out of the wilds. Follow me," Morrigan said.

* * *

><p><strong>Ostagar<strong>

Trip out of the wilds took less time than Lenya expected. She was quite sure they didn't return the same way they'd gone in.

"There's your camp," Morrigan said to her. She'd not talked much and not at all to the men that were following them. Only to her and even with her she only spoke short sentences.

"Thank you, Morrigan," Lenya said and nodded at the woman, "I would have hated to wander there much longer..." She turned to look at the men who were now catching up with them.

"'Twas a pleasure," Morrigan just said, "And I can understand your need to get away from... the wilds," She added and watched the approaching men, "Fare thee well," She said then and left back to the wilds. Lenya was the only one who saw her changing into a wolf before she disappeared. Interesting - she thought.

"I've never been so happy to see ruined buildings," Alistair said and he almost started to run in his hurry to get away from the wilds. Daveth and Jory were also eager to do so and followed him.

"Shems!" Lenya muttered to herself and slowly walked after them.

When she got to the pyre where Duncan was standing she noticed that Alistair and the other recruits were anxiously watching her. She shook her head. First they run back here like their backs were on fire and then they look at her like it's her fault they had to wait her.

Or maybe it was because Duncan seemed to wait her as well, "So you return from the Wilds," Duncan said, "Have you been successful?" He asked that directly from her even though Alistair and the others had gotten here before her. Why was this shem treating her like a leader?

Lenya looked down on her armor. It was covered in black blood. Ser Jory and Alistair were covered in the stuff as well, if not quite as badly as she was. Daveth had fared better since he had used his bow. It was obvious to anyone that they'd been fighting darkspawn so his question could only mean that he wasn't sure they had been intelligent enough to gather the blood. Or he might mean the treaties.

Lenya realized that Duncan was still waiting for her answer, "Sorry, headache starts to be quite bad and the damn itch on the wound doesn't help at all," She shook her head and saw worried look on Duncan's eyes, "And yes, we were successful."

She saw Duncan's posture relaxing a little, "Good, I've had the Circle mages preparing. With the blood you've retrieved we can start the Joining immediately."

"Would you now tell us what this ritual entails?" Lenya asked, "And no, I still won't dance naked at the moonlight if you lied to me about it earlier," She added. She also wondered if she should tell what Asha'bellanar had said about the blight, but then decided against it. She was not yet a Grey Warden and if Alistair decided not to say anything it was not her place to do it either.

"No, you still don't need to do that," Duncan smiled at her, "But, I will not lie; We Grey Wardens pay a heavy price to become what we are. Fate may degree you pay your price now rather than later," His voice was steady, but there was sadness in it. How cheery. She might die today after all.

"I've come this far and I'm not going to back down now just because it is dangerous," Lenya said and looked at the other two recruits. Daveth was quite calm and nodded at her, but Jory was pale and obviously he was having second thoughts about all this.

Then Jory noticed her watching and said, "I agree. Let's have it done," Little smile touched Lenya's lips. He had surprisingly steady voice even though he was pale as a ghost and sweating. He was trying to show courage just because she was watching him. How cute.

"Then let us begin. Alistair, take them to the old temple," Duncan said and nodded at the younger Warden before leaving.

"You have a moment to refresh yourself, but I don't recommend eating anything," Alistair said.

"Do I have time to get the darkspawn blood out of my hair?" Lenya asked.

"I don't think we have that much time," Alistair shook his head apologetically.

"Figures," Lenya shook her head. Now she was possibly going to die with her hair all tangled up and looking horrible. That made her burst out laughing and confused Alistair.

"Did I say something stupid?" He asked worried look in his eyes.

"Not this time, Tin man." Lenya smiled and left towards the kennels. Since she didn't have time to wash her hair she might as well leave it after she knew if she would even need to do it. And she'd promised the sick dog to look for the flower and she always kept her promises.

* * *

><p>Alistair followed Lenya with his eyes as she went to talk to the kennel master and shook his head. She was a confusing woman. She obviously didn't like humans and acted with hostility towards the other two recruits and to him. Well, mostly towards Jory, but even he and Daveth got their share of it.<p>

Then she acted like a normal person in the next moment and that was more than confusing. And then there was the thing she had with the darkspawn. She was a excellent fighter and could lead very well, but she was like a raging storm when fighting them and the rage stayed with her for some time after the fight was already over. It was like the fight was personal for her, but when he asked about it she just glared at him with those furious blue eyes and he quickly found something better to do. Perhaps the time had been wrong to ask it, but he doubted it.

"You can go to the temple already," Lenya said to him when he stopped at the kennels. She was kneeling in front of the mabari and spoke to it in her own language, "I promise I will come there as soon as I'm done here."

Alistair thought about it a moment and then nodded, "Don't take too long," He said, "It's the place where we met the first time," He waited to see her nod and then left to join the other two recruits.

* * *

><p>Sometime later Lenya walked into the temple and first thing she heard was Jory complaining. By the Creators the man was annoying. If Duncan had been like him she'd slit her throat long before they even got near Ostagar. Or his throat more likely.<p>

"Are you blubbering again?" Lenya heard Daveth ask. Shem or no he was funny and obviously as tired of Jory's whining as she was.

"Why all these damned tests. Have I not earned my place?" Jory asked. Most certainly not if what had happen in the wilds was any indication of his worth. Even with his good fighting skills against the group with the alpha he was not cut out for this and that might end up him causing others to die. Not to mention that she might kill him if he continued to whine like that.

"Maybe it's tradition. Maybe they're just trying to annoy you," Daveth said. He was also nervous, but ready to see this through.

"Are all humans such cowards?" Lenya asked looking Jory in the eyes. His face turned red. From anger or from shame, Lenya didn't know which nor did she care either way.

"Hey!" Daveth said and looked at her with hurtful look on his face. She just grinned at him.

"I only know that my wife is in Highever with a child on the way. If they had warned me..." Jory said.

"You actually thought that fighting darkspawn isn't dangerous or didn't think that it might kill you?" She asked incredulously, "You thought you get the glory without the danger?" She continued before Jory had even time to answer her first question.

Jory tried to ignore her by looking at Daveth, "It just doesn't seem fair," He shook his head.

"Would you'd come if they'd warned you?" Daveth asked and the answer was plainly visible on Jory's face. He wouldn't have, "Maybe that's why they don't. Wardens do what they must, right?" He continued.

"Including sacrificing us?" Jory asked.

"I'd sacrifice a lot more if I knew it would end the blight," Daveth said.

"Would you two just shut up," Lenya snarled rubbing her temples. Headache was getting worse and she really didn't want to listen two shems arguing about things they couldn't change. Well, Daveth had a point, but he was speaking with Jory and that meant she would hear him whining too.

"Yeah Ser knight. Try not to wet your trousers before the ritual starts," Daveth said, obviously unable to just leave it that. Jory muttered something to that, but Lenya didn't hear more than something about a blade.

They stood there silently for few moments before Duncan and Alistair joined them. Or Duncan did. She'd not noticed that Alistair had been standing there all along. She really would need to stay more alert. It was not like her to miss things like that. Damn headache.

"At last we come to the Joining," Duncan said and set a large chalice on the nearby table.

She didn't pay much attention to the words Duncan was saying. Instead she focused on the chalice. First thing she did hear was, "... Wardens drank of darkspawn blood and mastered their taint," Well, that was just wonderful. More taint. As if she wasn't tainted enough.

"We're... going to drink the blood of those... creatures?" Jory asked horrified.

"As the first Grey Wardens did before us, as we did before you. This is the source of our power and our victory," Duncan said.

"Those who survive the Joining become immune to the taint. We can sense it in the darkspawn and use it to slay the archdemon," Alistair said.

"Let's get on with this," Lenya said. Still rubbing her temples. At the moment she would eat whole darkspawn if that would stop the headache. Duncan looked at her and nodded. He was more than likely aware of what was going inside her body. As creepy as it was.

"We speak only few words before the Joining, but these words have been said since the first," Duncan said and then looked at Alistair, "Alistair, if you would?"

She closed her eyes and sent her mind to her clan. If she was going to die she would do so with her clan and the more happier memories. Her hunts with Tamlen. First kiss with Merrill. Ashale trying to pair her with Tamlen and Tamlen rolling his eyes to the futile effort. Marethari looking at her with knowing eyes.

"Daveth, step forward," Lenya heard Duncan say and she opened her eyes. Even though she didn't like shems much, she felt that she owed them to witness this. She kept part of her mind with her clan, while other part watched Daveth taking the chalice with steady hands and then drinking from it.

She felt like a whisper going through the place and then Daveth's hand flew to his throat and he began to convulse, "I'm sorry, Daveth," Duncan said, his voice sad as Daveth collapsed on the ground and after short thrashing stopped moving, "Jory, step forward," Duncan then turned to Jory and offered the chalice.

Unlike Daveth, Jory was not steady. He was wild eyed and panicking. He packed away from Duncan who said with that sad tone, "There's no turning back."

"No! You ask too much!" Jory exclaimed and pulled his sword out, "There's no glory in this," With that he lost all the sympathy Lenya had for him and she closed her eyes again. What happen next didn't concern her.

"But the Joining is not complete," She heard Duncan say and she opened her eyes again. Duncan was offering the chalice to her now, "You're called upon to submit yourself to the taint for the greater good," He said when she took the chalice.

"So, the cure to the taint is more taint. How wonderful!" She said and chuckled, "And I was not actually called here, more like dragged in kicking and screaming," She added before she took the chalice to her lips and drank deeply.

The liquid tasted vile and as it slid down her throat it ignited the burning inside her. When it hit her stomach she felt like she'd swallowed a torch and the world turned black.

Blackness didn't last and it was replaced by a nightmarish landscape and a horribly disfigured dragon that roared at her direction. It made her want to curl up and hide, but that wasn't an option. As pain racked through her body she became aware of the connection between her and the dragon, but before she had time to understand it, the pain became unbearable and she was lost in the darkness again.

After a time that felt like an eternity the pain stopped. Even the headache that had been with her for days now. It was incredible feeling and she wanted to savor the moment, but before she had time to do that she heard voices, "I think she's waking up."

It was the tin man's voice. By the Creators, that must mean she'd survived the pain. For a moment she'd thought she'd died because there was no pain.

Slowly she opened her eyes and was greeted by a quite awful sight of two shem men looking at her. Yes, she was most certainly alive or the Creators were playing a really bad joke on her.

"It is finished. Welcome," Duncan said.

"Two more deaths. In my Joining only one of us died, but it was horrible," Alistair said and then he gave her a warm smile, "I'm glad that at least one of you made it through."

"How do you feel?" Duncan asked as she slowly got up from the ground. She gave Alistair a glare when he was about to help her.

"My mouth feels like I'd eaten something that should have been thrown away months ago, but on the plus side my headache is gone and the damn wound on my leg doesn't itch anymore," She replied, "Your cure though. I don't think it will become very popular with the People, just so you know," She added making Duncan chuckle.

Alistair asked something about dreams, but Creators could damn her if she was going to talk, about what she'd seen, with them any time soon. Mere thought of it made her shiver.

"Such dreams come when you begin to sense the darkspawn as we all do. That and many other things can be explained in the months to come," Duncan said. Well, that sounded ominous.

"Before I forget. There is one last part to the Joining," Alistair said. She lifted her brow and looked at him warily. If they expected her to drink something even more vile she would jump from the cliff or maybe try to feed it to them, "We take some of that blood and put it in a pendant. Something to remind us... of those that did not make it this far," Well, that didn't sound too bad. She turned to look at were Daveth and Jory should have been, but their bodies must have been taken away while she was unconscious.

"Take some time. When you are ready, I'd like you to accompany me to the meeting with the king," Duncan said. Why would the fool king want her there? – she thought, suspicions waking in her.

"Why would this shem king want me there?" Lenya asked warily.

"The king is discussing strategy for the upcoming battle," Duncan replied and then he shrugged, "I am not sure why he has requested your presence," He added then.

"If the shem king thinks I'm some sort of servant..." Lenya said biting her teeth together as she spoke and her whole body trembled. She would kill the fool even if that would be her last act.

"It's nothing like that I assure you," Duncan said shaking his head. She noticed Alistair taking a step back and swallowing hard, "Meeting is west from here. Please attend as soon as you are able," He said and then he left.

Alistair watched her for a moment before he followed Duncan.

"I need a bath," Lenya said after the men were gone. She ran her hand through her hair and nodded. She could literally kill for the chance to wash her hair. Then her stomach rumbled. And she would practically slaughter to get something to eat.

Still shaking her head she left the temple.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This chapter ended up being a bit longer than intended, but it was either that or move the Joining part to the start of the next chapter.**

**About Lenya recognizing Flemeth as an Asha'bellanar. Dalish seem to know about her and it felt odd that Dalish Warden would not know her. I understand the reason for it in game, but in purposes of this story I changed it.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter 2. Reviews and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Chapter 3. Lenya is now a real Grey Warden. I think her story is writing itself. I can't explain any other way how I manage to get new chapters done so fast. Hopefully that will continue.**

**Since Lenya is Dalish I will be using Dragon Age's elven language from time to time. If I use it, the translations are after the story.**

**I want to thank those who have read the story so far and special thanks to those who reviewed and those who have added this story to their favorites or alerts. Very special thanks to Faelan for her enormous support and encouragement that makes me write my stories.**

**As always Dragon age belongs to Bioware and all you recognize are theirs and what you don't is mine.**

****Update, September 2013: Fixed grammar errors and other errors****

* * *

><p><strong>Ostagar<strong>

Lenya was happy. For the first time in four days she didn't have a headache and she'd found a place to wash herself and to clean her armor, but the thing she was most happy about was the fact that she'd found the camps cooking area and got herself some food. Then there was of course the fact that she didn't have any shems following her around.

She also managed to get rid of the darkspawn blood taste from her mouth so the food actually tasted good. Humming silently to herself she was now heading to the meeting with the fool king.

* * *

><p>Alistair was watching the Duncan's pyre when he noticed Lenya walking through the camp. Her hair was wet and clean and her armor didn't have darkspawn blood on it anymore. She looked happy and was also eating something while walking.<p>

That made Alistair smile. Grey Warden appetite was huge.

As he watched her walking towards the place where the king was having his strategy meeting he couldn't, but feel a little worried. He hoped that the meeting wouldn't end with their newest Warden killing the king.

"Hopefully he doesn't treat her like a servant," He muttered when Lenya disappeared to the meeting.

* * *

><p>When Lenya got near the meeting place she was greeted by the kings voice as he was arguing with an older man with black hair and piercing eyes. Eyes that narrowed when they saw her. She was expecting him to try and throw her out, but then he either recognized her or he saw Duncan motioning her to come to his side.<p>

"And this is the new recruit I met earlier on the road," The king said when he noticed her. His eager voice and almost bouncy attitude reminded Lenya of an puppy, "I understand congratulations are in order," He then said.

It took Lenya a moment to understand what he was babbling about before she figured out he meant the Joining, "I don't feel that special," She shrugged. Which was true. She felt like herself again, not something special.

"Oh, but you are. Every Grey Warden is needed now more than ever," The king said enthusiastically. He really was like a puppy.

"Your fascination with glory and legends will be your undoing, Cailan," The older man said and Lenya could only agree with him. Even though there was something about the man she didn't like, "We need to attend to reality," Again Lenya agreed with him. Annoyed by the mixed signals she was getting concerning the man, she focused on the map that was on the table.

After that she didn't pay much attention to what the king and the older man was talking. If she could understand the map correctly this was a great place to defend against the force coming from the Wilds. If one part of the army would just hold the center and draw the enemy there you could flank them. Problem with that was that you'd need something to signal the flanking army. Mere flame arrows would not do since there was bound to be a lot of them flying anyway.

"Then we should send our best. Send Alistair and the new Grey Warden to make sure it's done," Lenya heard the king say. Even through the fascination she had for the map and the plan that was going through her mind.

"Wait, what? I will not be in the battle?" Lenya asked puzzled and lifted her eyes from the map. She'd actually waited the chance to kill as many darkspawn as possible.

"We do what we must to defeat the darkspawn, Lenya," She heard Duncan's whisper. She was certain that the king and the older man didn't hear that. His words made her sigh. She might not like it and her nature was not to follow orders from shems, but she'd also given her word to the keeper Marethari that she would make her clan proud. And at the moment it meant that she would follow the orders from Duncan and because he was following the orders from the fool king so was she.

"If it's not a dangerous task I can do it on my own," Lenya offered. At least that way she wouldn't need to spend hours on top of the tower with a shem.

"No, it's better that you both go," The king said and now there was a hint of something in his eyes. Some knowledge he only had and because of that knowledge he was sending her and the tin man on top of that tower.

"You rely too much on these Grey Wardens," The older man said with a resigned tone, "Is it truly wise?" He then asked.

"Enough of your conspiracy theories, Loghain," The king said and he raised his voice now. It seemed that this was something they'd fought about before, "Grey Wardens battle the blight no matter where they're from," He continued and Lenya studied the pair trying to understand what was the issue between those two.

At this point Duncan joined the conversation, "Your Majesty, you should consider the possibility of archdemon appearing."

"There has been no signs of any dragons in the wilds," Loghain said and the king asked, "Isn't that what your men are here for, Duncan?"

Lenya saw that Duncan struggled with the knowledge that his concerns were brushed aside by over eager king and a man who didn't trust him or his order, "I... Yes, your Majesty," He finally said and Lenya felt odd need to assure him that she understood. Need like that was beyond absurd and a little bit confusing. Why was she concerned about the feelings of someone she'd met only short while ago and who was a shem on top of everything.

While she was thinking about that, a mage stepped forward and offered to light the beacon and then old chantry harlot stepped in and forbade it. In other circumstances it would have been even funny how humans treated their mages, but not now. It was beyond stupid that the mages couldn't help on the cause that was concerning all of them.

Lenya would never understand the vile thing that was the chantry. It had labeled her people as dangerous heathens and moved to destroy their homeland which their own prophet Andraste herself had promised to the elves and it treated it's own people with fear and disdain, just because they had talent for magic.

"Enough!" Loghain's voice brought her back from her thoughts about the chantry. Which was probably a good thing, "This plan will suffice. The Grey Wardens light the beacon."

"Thank you, Loghain," The king said and then continued with that puppy like enthusiasm, "I can't wait for that glorious moment! The Grey Wardens battle beside the king of Ferelden to stem the tide of evil!" Lenya could only shake her head and hope that the man wouldn't get them all killed with his glory seeking.

"Yes, Cailan. Glorious moment for us all," Loghain said and that set up warning bells for Lenya, but she had no idea why. Was it because he was human or was this something more. It was so frustrating not to know that she could chew ironbark.

"Come Lenya," Duncan said and she noticed that the king and Loghain had already disappeared.

They walked in silence for a moment, but then she had to speak, "I don't like that shem, Loghain. There's something not right about him."

"Are you sure it's not just because he's human?" Duncan asked.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "It could be because he's a shem and a shem in power at that, but I don't think so, I can look past things like that when I want to."

"What in him bothers you?" Duncan asked then and Lenya had to stop. He was actually listening to her and considering her words. That was unexpected.

"I don't know if I can put a word to it in shemlen language," Lenya said, "It is this feeling you get when you are hunting and the weather is about to suddenly change. In here that is tied to that man there."

"I will keep my eyes open for that, but at the moment there isn't much we can do about this," Duncan said, "The battle will start shortly."

"I know," Lenya nodded, "Thank you for listening me. Ma Serannas."

"I would be stupid not to. You have a natural affinity for these things, Lenya," Duncan said.

"Great," Lenya sighed, "Keeper told you about how I seem to attract trouble then."

"Not exactly," Duncan chuckled, "She said that you have a talent on sensing when something bad is about to happen and it has saved the lives of your clans hunters more than once."

"It just doesn't work always or Tamlen and I would have never gone to that stupid cave and I wouldn't be in the middle of a shem army with a puppy king who looks for glory in battle and a shem general who gives me a bad feeling. Not to mention I will be standing in a damn tower with a torch and a tin man," Lenya muttered loud enough for Duncan to hear.

"At least you don't call him a fool anymore. Not that puppy is much better though," Duncan said after she stopped talking, "I take it that Alistair is this tin man," She just nodded, "Plan is a good one though so we might pull this off."

"Yes, the plan is a good one, but I don't like it that it's success is depending on that shem," Lenya said, "But there's nothing I can do about it so let's just go to Alistair so we can get to the standing in the tower part."

Duncan shook his head in amusement and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

><p>Alistair watched as Duncan and Lenya walked towards him. Lenya didn't look too happy and Duncan looked thoughtful.<p>

"So, how did the meeting go?" Alistair asked when they got near enough.

"It went well," Duncan nodded, "You and Lenya go to the tower of Ishal and ensure that the beacon is lit," He then said and Alistair's spirits fell. He was going to get sent out off the battle, again.

Even though he knew it to be futile he tried, "What? I won't be in the battle?" He asked and the look on Lenya's face told that she didn't like the idea either. Why she didn't like it was another matter entirely though.

"This is by the kings personal request, Alistair. If the beacon is not lit, Teyrn Loghain's men won't know when to charge," Duncan said.

"So he needs two Grey Wardens standing up there holding the torch. Just in case, right?" Alistair said and his voice was heavily sarcastic. He had his doubts of why he was kept out of the fight again.

"I agree with Alistair. We should be in the battle," Lenya said to his surprise. All though why that became as a surprise, considering her attitude against darkspawn, he didn't know.

Duncan cave Lenya a stare which made him wonder that maybe this was not the first time she was protesting against this, "That is not your choice. If King Cailan wishes Grey Wardens ensure the beacon is lit, then Grey Wardens will be there," Duncan said to Lenya, but now he turned his eyes on Alistair. "We must do whatever it takes to destroy the darkspawn... Exciting or no."

It was obvious that Duncan thought he was the one who wanted excitement and Lenya was the one who... wanted something else. Whatever that was. Probably hundreds gutted darkspawn or something equally grim, "I get it. I get it," Alistair sighed, but he couldn't just leave it at that, "Just so you know, if the King ever asks me to put on a dress and dance the remigold. I'm drawing the line. Darkspawn or no."

Lenya stared at him like she'd never seen him before and then she chuckled, "I don't know. That could be a great distraction," She was genuinely amused about that. Alistair was not sure it was a good thing though. She might just get in her head that he actually would look good in a dress.

"Me shimmying down the darkspawn line?" Alistair asked and Lenya nodded with her eyes sparkling, "Sure, we could kill them all while they roll around laughing," He added amused.

Duncan shook his head and let out a deep sigh before giving them directions to the Tower of Ishal. Like it wasn't visible from just about anywhere in Ostagar. He noticed Lenya rolling her eyes when Duncan gave the directions. She obviously thought that Duncan was an idiot or that Duncan thought that she was an idiot. Alistair was certain that Lenya already thought that he was an idiot.

Alistair happily let Lenya ask the questions. She was far better leading than he ever could be and she didn't show any reluctance on doing that.

"What shall we do if the archdemon appears?" Alistair heard Lenya asking.

"We soil our drawers, that's what..." He heard himself say before he even was aware of it. Lenya turned to look at him like he was an idiot and also a bit warily. He cursed himself of that. Lenya didn't tolerate cowardice well. Her attitude towards Jory had proven that one more than clearly. He'd meant his words as a joke, but that meaning seemed to escape Lenya.

"If it does, leave it to us. I want no heroics from either of you," Duncan said, his tone was serious.

He was still thinking about his words which Lenya might have taken as cowardly when Lenya said, "I know what I have to do," Signaling them both that she's had enough of talking and wanted to get on with the task she'd been given. No matter how boring it might end up being.

"Then I must join the others," Duncan said and then continued with that serious tone, "From here, you two are on your own. Remember, you are both Grey Wardens. I expect you to be worthy of that title," He emphasize the last part and was looking at him now.

"Duncan..." Alistair started when Duncan was about to turn and leave, "May the Maker watch over you."

"May he watch over us all," Duncan said.

"Mythal! I hope not," Alistair heard Lenya mutter. He really should try to learn some Dalish if they would end up together more often. Would at least be nice to know what she was calling him at times. He saw slight smile on Duncan's lips and then before he left Duncan nodded at Alistair.

When Duncan disappeared from view Alistair sighed.

"He and the king are keeping you out off the battle for some other reason than lighting the beacon," Lenya said more to herself than to him, but it made his breath catch up in his throat. He had to remember that Lenya seemed to be much more than just a furious Dalish woman. She was really observant for one. Scarily so at times, "You shems really are odd," Lenya then said shrugging her shoulders and then she seemed to listen something, "They are here," She said and for a moment he was just staring at her in shock. How did she know. He felt them, but she shouldn't be able to just yet, "How..." He started and then he felt what she'd felt. The ground was vibrating, "Never mind," He shook his head.

"As you wish," Lenya smiled at him. Amusingly again, "Lets go to that tower. I'm eager to get up there so I can stand in there doing nothing," She was going before he had time to even think of anything to say, so he just followed her.

* * *

><p>Whole structure was vibrating under Lenya and the air felt heavy. Storm clouds that had been making their way towards Ostagar had finally arrived and lightning strikes lighted up the sky in ever shortening intervals.<p>

When they got near the bridge, over noise from the weather, approaching enemy and everything, she heard a shout, "For Ferelden!" Then she felt the vibrating getting stronger.

"We need to get over this quickly," She shouted over the thunder, "Battle is beginning."

"Lead on," Alistair said and then lifted his eyes in the sky and they widened in shock. She followed his gaze and saw huge flaming boulder hit at the top of the smaller of the ruined towers, "We should hurry," Alistair said and she nodded.

Getting over the bridge turned out to be a bit more exciting than she'd expected. Boulders kept hitting on it making it shake and killing the archers and breaking the arrow launchers positioned there.

Then Lenya felt it. Change in the air and without thinking she tackled Alistair who yelped in surprise as he went down. Just in time as the big statue near them got hit and crashed on the place where they would have been if she'd not done what she did.

"You..." Alistair started, but Lenya shook her head, "Forget it," She said, "But... You saved my life," Alistair said, "Thank you."

"I said forget it," Lenya said. She didn't want him to start thinking there was something special on her saving his life, "Lets go, before we get more of those boulders on our heads," Without looking if he followed she continued weaving through the flying debris and occasional flying body.

"Would you slow down a little," Alistair said when they were both standing on the other side of the bridge.

"You should get lighter armor," Lenya smiled, "Would let you move faster and you wouldn't make that infernal noise while doing so."

"When the fighting starts I'm rather happy that I have heavier armor," Alistair said, "You should try it sometime."

"And what makes you think I've never used heavy armor?" Lenya asked. She had, had a full set of heavy armor in the clan and she knew how to fight while wearing one, but there was rarely need to use it while hunting. While killing bandits though, now that was a whole different story.

"I just..." Alistair started and turned to look at Lenya, "I just assumed..." He tried again, but stopped when he saw her glaring at him.

"You just assumed that because I now use this light armor I always use it," Lenya said and then continued with contempt, "And perhaps thought that we Dalish don't even know how to use one because we live in the forests most of our lives."

"No..." Alistair started and fumbled on his words, "I didn't..."

"Save it, shem," Lenya sighed. Why she'd thought Alistair was any different than other shems was beyond her. Maybe it was the taint affecting her judgment. Then her attention was taken by soldiers running away from the tower they were going, "Is it normal for shems to run away from the post they've been assigned to?"

"What?" Alistair asked puzzled. He was still struggling with what she'd said to him, so she pointed at the men running away from the tower, "No, it isn't," He said and Lenya noticed how he pulled himself together and headed towards the closest fleeing men.

She didn't hear what was said, but from Alistair's posture it wasn't anything good, "Seems that the Tower has fallen and it's full of darkspawn," He said when she got next to him.

"Then we have to clear it," Lenya said, "Are you any good with that crossbow of yours?" She asked from the shem who was holding one in his hands.

The man looked at Alistair and then Lenya before he answered, "Yes."

"Good. You can then support us while we beat these filthy things to pieces," Lenya said and she noticed Alistair and the other shems were looking at her warily again. She sighed and tried not to look so enthusiastic about the possibility of killing darkspawn, "And you then. What can you do?" She asked from the man with a robe and a staff.

"I can enchant your weapons with fire and weaken our enemies," The man replied a bit nervously, "And shoot magical projectiles from the staff," That probably was not all he could do, but mages were secretive lot. Even the Dalish mages were so.

"Ok." Lenya said, "Here's the deal shems. It seems that the men who were supposed to guard the tower have fled and I seriously doubt that there's anyone on the top of it to light the beacon and if that doesn't happen, everyone down at the gorge will die," She explained and then smiled a little, "Now normally I wouldn't care if a lot of shems get killed, but since if that happen today, it would mean I would have to stop the darkspawn on my own. So I need the shems down there to actually survive."

"What's a shem?" The bow wielding man asked looking puzzled.

"No idea, but she keeps using that when she talks to humans," Alistair replied, "She doesn't like us much."

"Don't have much reason to," Lenya said, "So... as I was saying it seems we need to clear the tower and light the beacon and you two are just conscripted to help us do that. Just make sure we stay alive and we kill the cursed creatures. Questions?" Both men shook their head and had fearful look in their eyes, "By the Creators. If you are afraid of me, how you think you can fight the darkspawn?" She asked.

"They are just horrible looking and want to kill everything, but you are damn scary when you do the same because you don't look horrible," Alistair replied and then fell silent when Lenya turned her eyes on him.

Muttering in her own language she started to walk towards the tower.

* * *

><p>Alistair watched his fellow warden leave towards the tower muttering in her own language. It was probably good thing he didn't know what she was saying. He was sure it wasn't anything flattering.<p>

"Let's go," He said to the two men who Lenya had conscripted to come with them, "Or do you want her to come back and get us?"

"By the Maker, no," The mage said looking scared.

"I thought so," Alistair smiled, "We need to hurry or she will kill all the darkspawn on her own."

"Shouldn't we just let her do that then?" The crossbow man asked and stole glances towards Lenya who had stopped and was watching at them.

"Tempting, but I think we can get on top of the tower faster if we help her," He said and smiled at the men, "And if we let her do it alone I really don't want to be here when she comes back from the tower," He added and readied his shield and took a couple testing swings with his sword.

Alistair saw Lenya unsheathing her sword and dagger and giving them a swirl with her wrist. How can something so delicate be so damn deadly and scary. He couldn't understand that.

"Are you going to just stand there and wait the darkspawnd to come to you?" Alistair heard her shout impatiently.

"You heard the lady," He said to the others, "Keep us alive and we deal with the darkspawn," He didn't stop to wait for their answer, but heard their acknowledgments as he was catching up Lenya who had already engaged with three genlocks, "Try to distract the archers. Lenya will kill them off as fast as she can."

They didn't meet too heavy resistance on their way to the tower door and the little they encountered was killed off fast and efficiently. He marveled the speed Lenya demonstrated as she picked up the archers from the group and killed them before they became a danger.

He noticed that she used the same base tactic they'd used on the wilds with Daveth and Jory. Making only minor changes because their fourth member was a mage instead of an warrior using two handed sword. It did mean that he and Lenya had to take on more darkspawn at the time, but with Lenya's speed and his own ability to shrug of attacks with the shield, things worked like a charm.

"Alpha on top of the stairs," Lenya pointed out and wiped the blood off from her face.

"I saw it," Alistair nodded, "There are also at least two hurlocks near and two genlocks. As far as I can feel them, but there's so many of them down at main battle that I can't be sure."

"You have to hold the hurlocks long enough for me to get the genlocks killed and then I tear the alpha to pieces," Lenya said and she was gone before he had time to protest. It was confusing that there seemed to be two different versions of the Dalish woman. One who didn't like humans and the chantry and most likely not much of himself either and then there was Lenya who did the fighting. She took the biggest risk, protected those who were with her and treated those who did their job right with respect. She'd even treated Jory well in those cases.

"Damn!" He cursed suddenly, there was more than two hurlocks. Which meant that they'd have to improvise.

"Do as I said," Lenya yelled while finishing her first genlock, "Mage, weaken the alpha and then concentrate on it," She continued to shout while running towards the next genlock.

"Which one is alpha?" Alistair heard the mage asking.

"The one with the fancy armor," Came Lenya's reply, "Fen'Harel take you, you ugly piece of filth!" Alistair heard Lenya curse as she cut the last genlock down. Then he didn't have time to follow her movements anymore.

Three hurlocks that were left tried to cut him down, but they were no match for him. Taking a defensive stance he just stopped their attacks and countered with his own when there was an opening in their defenses.

He'd managed to kill one and while getting his focus back to other two, one of them jerked as a tip of the dagger came out of its chest and then it's head left from it's shoulders. Surprised, he stared at Lenya and almost died because of it. Luckily some part of him had actually paid attention to the battle and he managed to block the blow and then they finished the last hurlock in no time.

"Focus, tinman," Lenya said and then she grinned. She looked absolutely terrifying while grinning since she was covered in darkspawn blood from head to toe, "That fancy armor of yours don't block everything," Lenya added and tapped his armor with a tip of her dagger. Then she turned to the mage and her grin turned into a smile, "Nice enchantment this," She said and swirled her burning sword with elegant twist of her hand.

"Th-thank you, my lady," The mage said. Clearly confused about the change in Lenya. Alistair didn't blame him.

"You're welcome," Lenya said and then turned to look at the tower entrance, "Shall we go see if there's anymore of these filthy creatures in there?"

"What are these even doing here?" Alistair asked, "There was not supposed to be any darkspawn here."

"Well, you could go tell them and say they are in the wrong place," Lenya chuckled, "Besides, didn't you complain that you didn't get to fight?"

"Yeah, I guess I did," Alistair smiled, "I guess there really is a silver lining on every cloud."

"Just let me point out that your silver lining is really filthy," Lenya laughed as she opened the door to the tower, "It comes with darkspawn so you might want to complain about it to your cloud maker."

Alistair could only stare after her. Did she just joke with him? "Are all Dalish that odd?" The mage whispered.

"I don't know," Alistair shrugged, "She's the first one I've seen."

"I can hear you by the way," Lenya's voice came from the inside of the tower. She sounded amused, but none of them wanted to bet their life on it and say something to her. Woman who grinned while covered in darkspawn blood isn't one you want to mess with. When she's armed and not tied to a wall anyway. "There's more of them inside and it seems they've redecorated here. We need to keep moving or we might not get to the top in time," Lenya added.

* * *

><p>Journey through the tower was grueling. Lenya had lost count on how many darkspawn she'd killed and none of them had been spared from the wounds. She and Alistair were safe, but one look of the wounds on the two men that were with them told that they were doomed. Taint was already spreading in them.<p>

Neither she or Alistair had heart to tell them that. Shems or no they would have not got this far without them.

"You sure these are the last stairs we need to go up?" Lenya asked from Alistair while they were climbing the stairs to the next floor.

"Am I sure?" Alistair said tiredly, "No, but how many more floors there could be?"

"This should be the last floor before the top, my lady," The mage said. He was leaning on his staff and breathing hard. She'd seen him drink lyrium potions, but even with them his strength started to be on it's limits.

"Good," Lenya nodded, "Let's hope there's nothing up there."

"You just had to go and jinx it," Alistair sighed.

"Jinx it?" Lenya asked puzzled, "What does that mean?"

"It..." Alistair started and then sighed again, "Never mind," He said, "Let's just go up there and light the damn beacon."

"Right," Lenya nodded and opened the door that should lead them to the top floor.

Bodies were littered around the rain soaked floor and she heard a crunching sound from ahead. Something huge was hunched over the dead on the other side of the floor, "By the Creators!" She breathed and heard Alistair muttering something about the Maker of his.

The huge creature seemed to notice them and turned around holding a corpse in one of it's huge hands, "Mythal, protect us," Lenya muttered, "We can't take that head on. I bet it can crush us with ease if it get a hold on us."

"Any ideas?" Alistair asked and kept his eyes on the creature.

"You think you can keep it busy without it getting a hold on you?" She asked.

"Sounds like suicide, but I think I could keep it busy at least for a while," Alistair replied, "You want to circle around it and slice it from behind?" He asked and she nodded, "Right then," He said and then yelled at the creature trying draw its attention, "Let's dance you ugly... thing."

The creature turned its attention to Alistair and then charged at him, "Uhm..." Lenya said when Alistair was trying to get up from the floor. He'd managed to avoid the collision by diving out of the way, "New plan!" Lenya shouted, "Let's improvise."

"Great," Lenya heard Alistair mutter, "Weaken it," She ordered the mage who just nodded.

It was not as much a fight than attempt to slice the creature while avoiding it's charges, hits and kicks. Who'd ever thought the stupid thing was clever enough to kick behind it, but it was and Lenya had, if not broken ribs, then at least bruised ones as a proof of the fact.

Lenya saw Alistair hit the creatures thigh and then he was flying backwards from the slam to his shield by the creature, but the move had left an opening and without thinking how stupid it was Lenya dropped her dagger and turned her sword to point at the creature and took a good grip of its hilt. Then she took few running steps and jumped sword first straight towards the creatures chest, driving her sword deep in it by using her own weight and momentum of the jump as a tool. There was deafening roar and a sickening crunch when the sword penetrated the bones and inner organs of the thing and then it was falling slowly backwards pulling her with it because she refused to let go of the hilt of her sword.

It was still moving, so she pulled the sword out of its chest and plunged it in its head, finally making the creature stop moving.

"That was the craziest thing I've ever seen," Alistair said and limped to her, "Are you alright?" He asked then.

"Nothing life threatening," Lenya replied tiredly and pulled her sword free from the things head, "Go light the beacon."

"Right," Alistair nodded, "We surely missed the signal."

Lenya studied the creature while Alistair went to light the beacon, "Any idea what the hell is this thing?" She asked and kicked the head of the thing.

"I believe it's an ogre," Alistair said and thrust the torch into the beacon. A loud swoosh sounded and the flames shot towards the sky, "Ok, it's done."

"Let's hope that the shem who commands the flanking army is ready for it," Lenya said and then finally looked around the tower floor. Their companions had met their fate in the battle against the ogre. Large piece of rock had crushed the mage's head and the archer had not been able to avoid the ogre's charge and had been crushed between the tower wall and the ogre, "Falon'Din, guide them to the beyond," She said respectfully. Shems or no they deserved her respect.

"We should get out of here," Alistair said, "I don't know if the tunnel these things dug is still open, but we are cut from all the help if there are more coming."

She lifted her head and let the rain fall on her face and after a while she nodded, "Let's go."

Next thing Lenya heard was Alistair's sharp inhale and then she saw them. The darkspawn were pouring in from the door and then she got hit by multiple arrows that threw her on her back. Last thing she saw was Alistair positioning himself between her and the enemy. Her last thought before darkness claimed her was, _"What a strange thing to do."_

* * *

><p><strong>Translations for elven language used in this chapter.<strong>

**Dalish elves use their gods names on different situations. When attacking, wanting protection and the like. Lenya does so as well so here are the gods she calls on this chapter.**

_**Mythal = Elven goddess of motherhood and protection.**_

_**Fen'Harel = Dread wolf.**_

_**Falon'Din = Friend of the dead. Elven god of Death.**_

**Sentences of elven language Lenya uses in this chapter.**

_**Ma Serannas = Thank you**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that was the chapter 3.**

**Bit more action than Alistair expected. Hope he's happy now. I removed the roof from the top of the Tower of Ishal. It always bothered me that you light some small fireplace and then in the cutscene there's a huge flame coming from the tower. So, no roof in there and it also makes sense in some other thing too.**

**Lenya has a gift of premonition. She senses things sometimes and makes decisions based on those. As she explains to Duncan it doesn't always work.**

**_I hope you enjoy the chapter and the story. Reviews are welcome._**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: And we get to the Chapter 4. Last chapter left our heroine wounded on top of the Tower of Ishal and now we find out what happen after that. Still bit amazed of how well this story has progressed. 4 chapters already. **

**Thank you for all who've read this far and special thanks for all those who reviewed, faved or signed this up for Alerts.**

**And again very special thanks to Faelan whose support is invaluable to me when I write these.**

**As with the previous chapter the translation to elvish language, if Lenya uses it, is after the chapter.**

**Dragon Age and all that you recognize is property of Bioware. All you don't recognize is mine. Lenya belongs to herself.**

****Update, September 2013: Fixed grammar errors and other errors** **

* * *

><p><em><strong>The gift...<strong>_

_Merrill looked at the small heart shaped amulet Lenya had given her with tears in her eyes. Because she was Keeper Marethari's first she rarely got anything for herself so Lenya had gone in great lengths to get that amulet made for her. _

"_My love, thank you!" Merrill said with wavering voice and turned the pendant in her fingers, "It is beautiful."_

"_You like it then?" Lenya asked smiling._

"_Like it?" Merrill asked incredulously, "I love it," She said and then pulled her into a kiss. At first she was stunned about it because they were not in private, but then she returned the kiss with passion. If Merrill wanted everyone to know about them, then she was alright with it._

"_You don't mind them knowing then?" Lenya asked after the kiss ended._

"_It doesn't matter anymore, my love," Merrill said and now she looked sad._

"_What do you mean, love?" She asked puzzled._

"_You are needed elsewhere, Lenya," Merrill said and pointed at the distance where there was a huge ruined tower standing. Tower she knew from somewhere. A tower, where she didn't want to go._

"_I don't want to be there," Lenya said and tears started to fall down on her cheeks, "There is nothing familiar there," She added quietly, "You're not there."_

"_I know, but if you're not there we all will perish," Merrill said, "I hate it that you are there all alone with the shems and not here with me, but we do what we must no matter how it hurts."_

_Lenya smiled weakly at that, "Now you sound like Marethari," She said and turned to look at the tower again. Now there was people standing near it. She couldn't see what they looked like. Except for one. Alistair, "I'm dreaming aren't I?" She asked._

"_Yes, my love," Merrill said smiling._

"_I don't want to go," Lenya sighed. _

"_You must," Merrill said and pulled her into another kiss._

* * *

><p><strong>Hut in the Wilds<strong>

When Lenya opened her eyes she regretted it a great deal. Not just because Merrill wasn't there, kissing her anymore, but also because she felt a stiff as a board.

"Ah, your eyes finally open," Familiar voice said, "Mother will be pleased."

When Lenya turned to look at the speaker she recognized her from their visit in the wilds. Morrigan, "I remember you, the woman from the wilds. Daughter of Asha'bellanar."

"I am Morrigan, lest you have forgotten. And we are in the wilds where I am bandaging your wounds," Morrigan said.

When Morrigan mentioned her wounds Lenya looked down on her body. There was hardly any truth in Morrigan's words about bandaging Lenya's wounds because she barely had a scar from the arrows, but it was obvious that someone had healed her with magic.

"You're welcome by the way," Morrigan said while studying her, "How does your memory fare. Do you remember mother's rescue?"

"Obviously not since I blacked out after I got hit by multiple darkspawn arrows," Lenya shrugged, "Unconscious people rarely see anything," She added and Morrigan chuckled at that.

"Mother managed to save you and your friend though 'twas a close call," Morrigan explained, "What is important is that you both live," Obviously Alistair was also alive. Not that she'd call him a friend though, "The man who was to respond to your signal quit the field. The darkspawn won the battle."

"I knew there was something wrong with him," Lenya said and then she cursed in her own language. She was going to make that man pay. That thought stopped her cursing. Why did she care about the battle shems had lost? - Truth was that she did not, but something in her still wanted to make Loghain pay for his treachery.

"Those he abandoned were massacred," Morrigan said, "Your friend... he's not taking it very well."

"My friend?" Lenya asked before she could stop herself, "You mean the tin... Alistair?"

"The suspicious dim-witted one who was with you before, yes," Morrigan said. Poor tinman, he had a way of impressing people it seems or not impressing as it seemed to be the case, "He is out by the fire. Mother asked to see you when you awake."

Lenya knew the answer, but she still had to ask, "Where my injuries severe?"

"Yes, but I expect you to be fine. Darkspawn did nothing mother could not heal," Morrigan said. So, she owed her life to Asha'bellanar. Not the outcome she'd choose if given the choice, but there it was. Question now was, why did Asha'bellanar did what she did and what she would need to do to pay for her help.

"Why did she save us?" Lenya asked even though she was certain Morrigan would not give her the answer she sought or if she even knew the answer.

"I wonder at that myself, but she tells me nothing," Morrigan said, "Perhaps you were the only ones who she could reach," She continued. Which of course didn't explain why she'd try to save some one from the battle in the first place, "I would have rescued your king. A king would be worth much higher ransom than you."

"He was not my king," Lenya snarled and Morrigan smiled at her. Finally someone who didn't wet herself just because she's angry at them, "And I bet you wouldn't have gotten much ransoms from that fool."

"Even foolish Kings are worth something," Morrigan said.

"Coin is important for you out here?" Lenya asked curiously. With the clan, coin was only needed when they had to buy stuff from the shemlen villages.

"Who says I would ransom for a coin?" Morrigan asked amused, "Money has its uses I suppose, but power buys far more."

"How did your mother manage to rescue us exactly?" Lenya asked then.

"She turned into a giant bird and plucked the two of you from atop that tower, one in each talon," Morrigan replied. She was again studying her as she spoke. Waiting to see how she reacted to her words. She obviously didn't give the right reaction because confused look passed on Morrigan's face before she continued, "If you do not believe that tale, then I suggest you ask mother yourself. She might even tell you," Ah, that was it. She'd expected disbelief from her, but she knew all the stories of the Asha'bellanar and even if not all of them were true she was certain she could do what Morrigan had described.

"Are there other survivors besides us?"

"Only stragglers that are long gone," Morrigan replied. So some one else had survived as well, "You would not want to see what is happening in that valley now," She added then.

"You are right, I wouldn't," Lenya shrugged. More precisely she didn't care what happened there.

"Suit yourself," Morrigan shrugged.

"I think I've asked enough questions," Lenya decided, "As soon as you tell me where's my stuff."

Morrigan pointed at the chest at the end of the bed.

* * *

><p>When Lenya stepped out of the hut, brightness of the light hurt her eyes and for a moment she didn't see anything. Slowly her eyes adjusted and she could make out the surroundings. They were, as Morrigan had said, in the wilds and at the Asha'bellanar's hut. Air was still free of the lingering threat she'd felt elsewhere on the wilds. Somehow Asha'bellanar was keeping the place free of the darkspawn taint.<p>

Lenya noticed Asha'bellanar watching her and Alistair standing at the edge of water watching at the wilds, "See, here is your fellow Warden. You worry too much, young man," Asha'bellanar said to Alistair who turned around in a hurry and his face melted in relief when he saw Lenya. It was very disconcerting to see a human being so relieved to see her.

"You... You're alive!" Alistair said, "I thought you were dead for sure," He continued with that relieved voice.

"I'm fine," Lenya said and then sighed. He deserved more than that, "I appreciate your concern," And then she nodded at the old woman, "Asha'bellanar."

"This doesn't seem real. If not for Morrigan's mother we'd be dead on top of that tower," Alistair said.

"Do not talk about me as if I am not present, lad," Asha'bellanar said to Alistair.

"I didn't mean... but what do we call you? You never gave us your name," Alistair said. Stumbling on his words as usual. It was nice to know that his stumbling on the words happen with any woman and not just her.

"She's Asha'bellanar," Lenya said and gave Alistair a look that told that he was an idiot if he'd not heard her use the name before.

"That doesn't tell me much," Alistair pointed out, "That could mean anything. You could even be insulting me when you say that."

"If I'd be insulting you with it, why in the name of the Creators I'd call her that?" Lenya asked and continued to stare at him.

"The People call me that," Asha'bellanar said, "It means The Woman of Many Years in human language. Names are pretty, but useless. The Chasind call me Flemeth. I guess that will do for you as well young man."

"The Flemeth? From the legends?" Alistair said with shocked voice, "Daveth was right. You are the Witch of the wilds," His words felt like an insult to Lenya though. She'd known all along who Asha'bellanar or Flemeth was and obviously Alistair had dismissed the whole thing completely. It was annoying that he remembered what Daveth had said, but not what she'd said.

"And what does that mean? I know a bit of magic and it has served you both well, has it not," Asha'bellanar said.

It was time to get her answer or at least try to get it. Lenya doubted she would be so lucky that she'd get all the answers, but she had to try.

"So, why did you save us?" Lenya asked and fixed her eyes on the older woman.

"Well, we can't have all the Grey Wardens dying at once, can we? Someone has to deal with the darkspawn," Asha'bellanar replied and Lenya sighed, yes, too much to ask to get a real answer, "It has always been the Grey Wardens duty to unite the lands against the blight. Or did that change when I was not looking?"

Creators damn her. She was going to appeal to Lenya's sense of duty. She'd do what was required of her at any case, especially after her dream, but for Asha'bellanar laying it on her feet like that something rebellious in her made her say something she didn't actually believe in, "It changed when most of them were slaughtered."

"If you think small numbers make you helpless, you are already defeated," Asha'bellanar said and she was right. Clans always relied on small numbers and it worked most often better than a larger group would have. And the old bat knew it. Lenya saw it in her eyes. Damn her.

"But we were fighting darkspawn!" Alistair exclaimed, "The king had nearly defeated them! Why would Loghain do such a thing?"

"Because he's a untrustworthy slippery weasel of an shem and in need of beheading," Lenya muttered.

"Now that is a good question. Men's hearts hold shadows darker than any tainted creature," Asha'bellanar said ignoring Lenya's muttering.

"I liked my description better," Lenya muttered to herself.

"Perhaps he believes that the blight is an army he can outmaneuver. Perhaps he does not see that evil behind it is the true threat," Asha'bellanar continued.

"The archdemon," Alistair said grimly.

Lenya knew what she had to do. She just didn't want to be the one to do it. She'd been, Grey Warden, for a less than a week and it was a damn unfair for her to have to make all the decisions, "Alistair is the real Grey Warden, not me," She said and saw horrified look appear on Alistair's face. She also saw that Asha'bellanar saw through her. Damned witch!

"All the Grey Wardens in Ferelden are gone except for us. I've lost everyone! For the love of the Maker don't back on me now," Alistair's voice was pleading and his look reminded Lenya of the fool king. Except the fool king had been enthusiastic about glory and stuff and Alistair looked sad and horrified.

Lenya studied Alistair for a long while without saying anything. It was clear to her that he was not fit to lead at the moment. He liked to follow and had seemed more than happy to leave the leading to her when they'd worked their way to the Tower of Ishal. What she had to know was that he would finish what they needed to do. It might be cruel, but she would be damned if she'd do this alone or with another Jory, "I don't know. This is lot to take in all at once," She said and saw the reaction she was looking for.

"Duncan was like father to me. I don't let his death be in vain!" Alistair said with more definitive voice. There it was. The fire she had been looking for and what she'd seen in him at the wilds and in the tower, "But I can't do anything on my own."

There was one hope for her yet. One chance that she would not have to do this. There had to be other Wardens somewhere. Older Wardens who were prepared for this sort of thing, "We should contact the rest of the Wardens," Lenya suggested. Alistair's posture changed immediately from hopelessness to hopeful. She also realized it wasn't because he thought that the other Wardens would be any help to them, but because Lenya was not going to abandon him.

"Cailan already summoned them. They'll come if they can, but I expect Loghain has already taken steps to stop them," Alistair said, "We must assume that they wont get here in time."

"He will pay for making me do this," Lenya muttered and gritted her teeth, "I don't like you shems and now I'm expected to unite whole stinking kingdom because one of you was a backstabbing bastard, we of the People have learned to expect you to be."

"Hey!" Alistair said, "Not all of us are like that," He protested, but took a step backwards when she glared at him.

"True, but those who are not, are pushed down by those who are," Lenya said, "How many of you rose against the injustice your chantry did to my people? How many of your people rise against the injustice that are still done against my people? Or to your own people for that matter?" She knew that her voice sounded bitter and angry. And that Alistair didn't really deserve this, but she couldn't stop, "And I seriously doubt that my people are seen any better even if I do this thing you seem to want me to do."

"But..." Alistair started, but obviously didn't know how to continue.

Asha'bellanar just studied them both. Didn't take part at the conversation on either sides. Lenya was grateful about that. She didn't want to talk these things with her. Alistair looked like he didn't know what to do. She actually didn't know why Alistair's protest, about that not all shems were bad, bothered her so much. She knew it was true, but she also knew that what she'd said already was also true.

Lenya closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, "I will do this, but only because there is no other option."

"Thank you," Alistair said with cautious tone. He was clearly afraid that if he said a wrong thing she'd leave him here alone.

"Don't thank me yet," Lenya said, "I may end up killing all the shems in Ferelden to unite it," She continued and saw Alistair's eyes go wide. He couldn't tell if she was joking or not and that suited Lenya more than well at the moment.

Lenya considered for a moment to ask help from Asha'bellanar, but she doubted the old witch would get involved with the blight more than she already had.

While Lenya was thinking, Alistair started to talk about Loghain and his insanity. She listened his words and could only shake her head. True, she didn't know much about how shems arranged the ruling of their lands, but she was damn sure that no one would believe if the two of them went and tried to just tell people what really happened.

"And who will believe you?" Asha'bellanar asked, giving voice to Lenya's own thoughts, "Unless you think of convincing this Loghain of his mistake."

"He just betrayed his own king!" Alistair exclaimed frustrated and angry, "If Arl Eamon knew what he did at Ostagar, he would be first to call for his execution!" He sounded so convinced of the fact that it made Lenya wonder why was that.

Of course Lenya had no idea who this Arl Eamon was, "Arl Eamon?" She said, "Is that someone important?"

"I suppose... Arl Eamon was not at Ostagar; He still has all his men. And he was Cailan's uncle," Alistair replied. Of course his answer didn't tell Lenya much. Except that Alistair held the man in high regard. Obviously he expected her to know how important the man was. Lenya was not sure should she be annoyed about it or not, "I know him. he's a good man and respected in the Landsmeet," He continued and then he yelped almost enthusiastically, "Of course! We could go to Redcliffe and to appeal him for help!"

That made Lenya sigh. He really was naïve, "Keep in mind that you also thought Loghain was honorable man," Lenya said, "What was it you said when I asked about the battle. _'It is Teyrn Loghain who we should turn to win the battle'_" She would need much more than Alistair's word before she trusted any shem in power after what Loghain had done.

"The Arl would never do what Loghain did. I know him too well," Alistair said, his voice defensive. Interesting - Lenya thought - This was not just simple declaration of him knowing the Arl, this was something more - Most interesting indeed.

He noticed she was looking at him and he blushed, "I still don't know if Arl Eamon's help would be enough. He can't defeat the darkspawn horde by himself!" He said and tried to avoid Lenya's gaze.

For a moment she thought to tease him a bit, but decided against it. He was already near his limits of how much he could take. Pushing him over it might be fun, but she needed him and they didn't have time for him breaking down. Especially because of her.

"Surely there are other allies we could call on," She said. Hoping that Alistair would remember.

"Of course! The treaties!" He said with that enthusiastic voice, "Grey Wardens can demand aid from dwarves, elves, mages and other places! They are obliged to help us during the blight!" Lenya hid her smile. In some ways he reminded her of Tamlen. Getting easily excited about things had been his specialty. As expected, the thought of Tamlen darkened her mood, but she hid that from Alistair. He wouldn't understand and she would be damned if she'd explain it to him.

"I may be old, but dwarves, elves, mages, this Arl Eamon and who knows what else... this sounds like an army to me," Asha'bellanar said and she was right, it did sound like an army. If they could gather them and make them believe them.

Alistair turned to her and his eyes were sparkling with hope, "So can we do this? Go to Redcliffe and these other places and... build an army?"

"I doubt it will be as easy as that," Lenya shook her head. One of them should stick to reality. That thought also made her thoughts pause. She and Alistair sounded like Loghain and the king, but in here she was on Loghain's place, keeping the things real and Alistair on the kings place being enthusiastic. Luckily for Lenya there was a difference though. Alistair wasn't seeking glory and that was a huge plus for him.

"And when is it ever?" Asha'bellanar laughed at her comment.

"It's always been the Grey Wardens' duty stand against the blight. And right now we're the Grey Wardens," Alistair said and that was the thing that set him apart from the fool king. Duty, not glory. She understood that and respected it. It was after all why she herself was here. She might have been tainted and dying and Duncan promised her a cure, but it was not because of that, that she was here now and not dead or dying back at the clan. Marethari had made this Lenya's duty and she would not disappoint her Keeper by not doing it.

"So you are set, then? Ready to be Grey Wardens?" Asha'bellanar asked.

"We could wait here for a week or two and see if we become more ready, but I doubt it so, yes, we are ready," Lenya said, "Thank you for everything, Asha'bellanar," She added then and gave a short bow to the old witch. She still hadn't found out how much her help would cost to them, but it didn't hurt to be polite to a woman who was centuries old and immensely powerful.

"No, no," Asha'bellanar said shaking her head, "Thank you. You are the Grey Wardens here, not I," She continued, "Now, before you go, there is one more thing I can offer you," She then said and Lenya raised her brow at that. She didn't want to be even more in dept to the Asha'bellanar.

Before Asha'bellanar had time to say what she was offering, Morrigan stepped out of the hut, "The stew is bubbling, mother dear," She said, "Shall we have two guests for the eve or none?"

"The Grey Wardens are leaving shortly and you will be joining them," Asha'bellanar said.

Now this was interesting development. She did not have anything against taking Morrigan with them, but Alistair looked like he was about to explode. Question was, how much this would cost them.

"Such a shame..." Morrigan started and then she truly heard what her mother had said, "What?!"

"You heard me girl," Asha'bellanar laughed, "Last time I checked you had ears."

"Thank you, but if Morrigan doesn't want to join us..." Lenya started, but was interrupted by Asha'bellanar, "Her magic will be useful. Even better, she knows the wilds and how to get past the horde."

"Have I no say in this?" Morrigan asked her voice indignant.

"You've been itching to get out of the Wilds for years. Here is your chance," Asha'bellanar said to her daughter and then turned to watch Lenya, "As for you, Warden, consider this as a payment for your lives," She said and that made Lenya wonder. This really didn't seem as a big thing to do as a repayment, so it made her suspicious. Not that it mattered now.

"Very well, we'll take her with us," Lenya said and saw Alistair almost choking on his tongue or something. She looked at him questioningly.

"Not to... look a gift horse in the mouth, but won't this add to our problems?" He said, "Out of the wilds she's an apostate."

"Only if you follow your chantry's ridiculous views," Lenya snorted at the same time as Asha'bellanar said, "If you do not wish help from us illegal mages, young man, perhaps I should have left you on that tower."

"Point taken," Alistair said his voice apologetic.

"Mother... this is not how I wanted this. I am not even ready..." Morrigan started, but was interrupted by her mother.

"You must be ready. Alone, these two must unite Ferelden against the darkspawn," Asha'bellanar said. No pressure at all - Lenya thought, "They need you Morrigan. Without you they'll surely fail, and all will perish under the Blight. Even I," Asha'bellanar continued.

"I... understand," Morrigan said, clearly resigned to her fate. Lenya knew well, what that felt like.

"And you Wardens? Do you understand? I give you that which I value above all in this world. I do this because you must succeed," Asha'bellanar said turning to talk to them again.

"I understand," Lenya nodded and she really did understand. Not the real reason why, but she did understand that the Blight was a threat to the Asha'bellanar as well. Alistair just nodded. She didn't know if he truly understood or was he just following her lead.

"Allow me to get my things, if you please," Morrigan said and stepped back into the hut.

* * *

><p><strong>On the Wilds<strong>

They'd walked for hours after leaving the Flemeth's hut and Alistair had a bad feeling about Morrigan. Especially since she got along with Lenya very well. Which was just weird. Morrigan was as human as he was, but for some reason that didn't seem to matter to Lenya.

Alistair sighed and watched how the women talked to each other or asked questions from each other and refused to answer most of them. It was just confusing. They both accepted others refusal to answer without a hitch and just asked another question.

It also made him feel very much alone. Neither of the women wanted to talk with him, so he was left with his thoughts.

Maybe he shouldn't have asked if Morrigan could cook. Lenya had stared at him and sighed before she'd said that she didn't need to cook. Which was a shame. If they made him cook he could just kill them by doing it.

Then he felt the familiar whisper in back of his head, "Ahem, ladies," He said.

"Darkspawn?" Lenya asked and turned to look at him. It was really eerie how she read him.

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "West of us."

"Do they know we are here?" Lenya asked then. She sounded hopeful and eager.

"If, Flemeth's trick works then I don't think so," Alistair replied.

"It works or we would have not got this far without being attacked," Morrigan said and Alistair was sure that the witch was rolling her eyes and probably muttering that he was an idiot.

Lenya stared at the direction he'd said the darkspawn were. Her hands were curling into a fist and opening again without her being aware of it. He really had to find out why did she hate the darkspawn so much. Problem with that was that he might end up dead if he brought it up with her.

Just his luck. Only other surviving Warden was an elf who hated humans and loathed chantry and had some serious issues with her temper when darkspawn were near or even talked about.

"You'd be a fool to go after them," Alistair heard Morrigan say to Lenya, making him almost choke at his tongue. That really was not how you approached her, "You don't gain anything by going there and killing them," Morrigan continued to talk to Lenya who seemed to quiver from suppressed rage.

Lenya stared at the direction of the darkspawn for a few moments longer and then she left to the direction that would take them around the darkspawn. Alistair let out the breath he hadn't even noticed holding.

Morrigan gave Alistair a knowing smile that pretty much told him that he was a coward who didn't dare to speak with his fellow Warden. It didn't help at all that she was right. Damned witch.

Alistair tried to answer her stare with a glare, but failed at it miserably. Glaring at women was not something they taught in the chantry. They actually tried pretty hard to make so that the young boys never noticed the women at all.

While Alistair's thoughts were circling the topics the chantry had taught to be forbidden, his eyes drifted to Morrigan's rather revealing outfit as she was walking in front of him. When he noticed what he was doing he blushed and tore his eyes away from her and noticed that Lenya had disappeared.

He hurried after Morrigan, "Where's Lenya?"

"Up there," Morrigan replied and pointed at one of the trees little further. When he lifted his gaze he saw Lenya high up on the trees top branches. Then as he was watching she started to climb down with effortless efficiency. Effortlessly and really gracefully.

"There's a road or something similar on that way," Lenya said when her feet hit the ground after a few moments, "It seems to go to the direction we are going."

"You are correct," Morrigan said and nodded, "Did you see anything else?"

"Nothing is moving at that direction as far as I could see," Lenya replied, "There are some movement where the tinman said the darkspawn were, but what they are doing there is beyond what I could see from the tree."

"What made you climb to the tree?" Alistair asked and just barely manage to avoid adding that it was dangerous.

"I'm Dalish. We just have to climb trees from now and then," Lenya replied, her voice serious, "It's a shame that I didn't have time to take my clothes off," She then added. Again with that serious tone.

"Your... What?" Alistair managed to blurt out. He was certain that his face was turning bright red again.

"Yes, my clothes, can't frolic in the trees properly with clothes on," Lenya continued seriously, "Of we go then," She turned around, but not before Alistair saw amused glint in her eyes and a smirk on her lips.

Morrigan chuckled at him and followed Lenya, leaving Alistair standing there blushing like a tomato. He cursed to himself and then hurried after the women.

* * *

><p>When they got to the road Lenya had seen from the tree she lifted her hand up, signaling others to stop. What ever had triggered her senses was not far. She heard a thud of the running feet. Something that ran with four legs. A wolf perhaps.<p>

Then she saw it. A mabari running at full speed towards her. She recognized him immediately. How he'd managed to survive the Ostagar was a mystery, but obviously he'd survived it.

She crouched down and waited him to reach her and when he did he barked once and turned to watch back from where he'd come from and began to growl.

"Darkspawn," Alistair said from behind her, "Small group of genlocks and hurlocks lead by an alpha."

"Let's dance then," Lenya said and she could feel the blood flowing faster through her, invigorating her, "And Alistair..." She said looking back at him, "If you see a wolf helping us. Don't attack it."

"Why?" Alistair asked puzzled.

"Because it's Morrigan," Lenya replied and then charged at the darkspawn with the Mabari on her other side and Alistair only a little bit behind her.

The fight didn't last long; the darkspawn had the numbers on their side, but they had skill and better weapons. When it was over Lenya was again covered in darkspawn blood and so was Alistair and the mabari who was looking at her with those all too intelligent eyes and he was obviously waiting for something.

"I think it has chosen you," Alistair said, "Mabari's are like that. They call it imprinting or something like that."

"Great, are we going to have this filthy mongrel following us as well?" Morrigan sighed.

"He's not a a mongrel," Alistair said and then his voice changed to what Lenya had heard mothers use to their babies, "Are you boy?" The mabari however ignored him completely and focused solely on her.

"You do know that following me is dangerous," Lenya said to the dog in her own language. The huge dog tilted his head a little and she could swear he was saying _'so what?'_ "Just thought you deserve a chance to reconsider," The dog snorted as if the whole idea was ridiculous, "I have to give you a name then, shall I?" She asked and he seemed to nod.

Lenya stared at the mabari in the eyes and felt tremendous sadness come over her. Sadness that was her own, but somehow it was part of the dog as well, "Abelas," She said and the mabari seemed to nod again. Accepting the name she'd given him.

"So, now we have a slobbering dog with us and still Alistair is the stupidest one here," Morrigan said.

"Hey!" Lenya heard Alistair's protests, but didn't pay any attention to it. Neither of the shems existed to her at the moment. Something wonderful had happened with her and the mabari. Something that was meant to be.

Abelas whined a little and she lifted her gaze to his eyes. He understood. He was her sorrow.

* * *

><p>Rest of the journey was uneventful. Morrigan and Alistair had started to picker each other and it was slowly driving Lenya nuts. Abelas was a true comfort to her. The huge mabari was never far from her and he truly did understand her. Unlike the shems she was forced to travel with.<p>

Morrigan was not so bad. Except when she was talking to Alistair and same applied to Alistair. He kept mostly to himself. Lenya knew he was mourning the loss of his fellow Wardens and Duncan in particular. She let him mourn.

Only time Lenya had snapped at him was when he had tried to tell her that she couldn't go hunting on her own. She'd yelled at him and eventually left him standing in shock at the camp. She hadn't talked to him after that.

Alistair had tried to apologize when Lenya came back with her prey and started to skin it, but she ignored him and Abelas didn't let him come close to her.

* * *

><p>Journey could have gone better. First off all, Alistair should have never tried to suggest that Lenya shouldn't go hunting alone. She was a Dalish elf and probably better hunter than all the hunters, Alistair had seen before, combined.<p>

When she'd come back with her prey and started to make food from it Alistair had tried to apologize, but the huge mabari didn't let him near her and she ignored him completely. He'd probably insulted her culture or something when he'd suggested that she should not go alone.

Great start for their mission to unite Ferelden. So far he'd managed to insult his only Warden companion and was almost constantly mocked by Morrigan.

Alistair noticed change in Morrigan's moves and lifted his eyes from the ground he'd been staring the last hour. It was a miracle that he'd not walked into something.

Now he saw Lenya watching the mabari, Abelas, into the eyes and talking to him with her own language. It was really something to watch Lenya talking with the dog. It also was a pretty creepy how the dog seemed to understand her even though she talked only elven language with him. He shouldn't understand her because he had been raised by humans, "Ma Serannas, Lethallin," Alistair heard Lenya say to the mabari.

"What is it?" Alistair asked.

"There are shems blocking the road to the the village we are heading," Lenya replied.

"Highwaymen most likely," Alistair said, "Preying on the refugees."

"If they are going to stop us from going through, I don't care what they are," Lenya said, "And I don't like bandits," She then added and her voice seemed to drop somewhat below freezing. Great, another trigger that made her fellow Warden even more dangerous than she already was.

"Let's go see what they want," Alistair suggested and Lenya nodded. She did look him in the eyes a bit longer and he understood. She was going to make sure the bandits would not continue prey on helpless victims any longer.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long before the bandit leader made a mistake. Calling Lenya a knife-eared wench was not a really smart thing to do as the leader probably noticed after he'd called Lenya that and she cut his head off with one graceful motion. Rest of the men fell fast after that. They seemed to go in to a shock when their leader was killed with such effortless way.<p>

"You really like to cut the heads off from people, don't you?" Alistair said to Lenya after the fight was over.

"It does end the fight fast," Lenya shrugged, "I just hate the cleaning after I do it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get all this blood out off my hair?" She asked then and ran her fingers through her long red hair, "Ugh, I think we need to find some water before we go into the village or we might scare the shems silly."

"There was a small stream little way back where we came," Morrigan said.

"Let's see what these bandits have on them and then go back there to clean up," Lenya decided and started to go through the dead men with sure hands.

"Isn't that a bit grim?" Alistair asked feeling bit uneasy.

"A little, but we need more money and anything we find from these we can sell in there." Lenya replied, "We could probably even try to sell their armors and weapons, but I don't know if that village has anyone who would pay for such things."

"Just so you know I don't like this," Alistair pointed out.

"You don't have to like it," Lenya shrugged, "Now let's get to it so we can get to the cleaning up part."

"Alright, alright," Alistair muttered and got to work on looting the bodies.

* * *

><p><strong>Translations for Elven language used in this Chapter<strong>

_**Asha'bellanar = The Woman of Many Years. What the Dalish call Flemeth.**_

_**Abelas = Sorrow.**_

_**Ma Serannas, Lethallin = Thank you, friend. If dog would have been female the proper word would have been Lethallan instead. It's used on those whom you are very familiar with. Like family and very close friends.**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's chapter 4. I ended up using quite a lot of in-game dialog in this chapter, but I felt it was needed. Small changes was made to it so it will reflect Lenya better and better explains why she chooses to go off and save Ferelden instead of just heading back to her clan.**

**I will continue using cursive when I write dreaming and fade parts that happen in the fade. I also use it when people are quoting other people like Lenya did in this chapter.**

_**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please give a review. They are always welcome.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: And we arrive to the Chapter 5 and with it to the village of Lothering.**

**Thanks to all who've read this far and are waiting for more. Special thanks to those who've reviewed and those who've faved or alerted Lenya's story.**

**Very special thanks to Faelan who keeps supporting me even though I make her read all these in advance. *Big hugs to you my dear friend***

**Dragon Age unfortunately belongs to Bioware not to me. Anything you don't recognize belongs to me and as always Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update: October 2013, Fixed grammar and other errors.**

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><p><strong>Lothering<strong>

The village of Lothering was in chaos. It seemed to be bursting with refugees who were fleeing the darkspawn. It seemed that Loghain had passed through here and took the local bann and his men with him. Leaving the village to its fate.

Lenya couldn't understand it. Leaving your people behind to certain death was probably something that Dalish clans would never do. Her face was a mix of disbelief and outrage. She also muttered to herself in her own language. Alistair didn't want to know what she was saying. He was sure it wasn't anything flattering about humans.

Lenya had managed to surprise Alistair again though. After she had talked with a templar who had warned them about the situation she was treating the templars with respect now. It had to be because they were still here and trying to look after the people.

Most surprising thing Lenya had done was that she didn't want to go after the Dalish clans first. Alistair didn't know why, but Lenya seemed to be very reluctant to go and find the Dalish. Lenya also told him that she would decide where they would go after they got out of the Lothering.

Alistair was just happy that she'd taken the leader role. Shiver went through him when he thought, that he might need to lead. Lenya had not said anything to him about him not wanting to lead except one time when she had asked why was she doing all the deciding. Morrigan on the other hand was not so considerate and had been making remarks about him being stupid.

"What is she doing now?" Morrigan asked and Alistair noticed that the two of them had fallen behind of Lenya who was now talking with an elf couple and their young daughter.

"Why don't you ask her instead of me?" Alistair asked, "I'm probably too stupid to understand her words anyway," He added, "She probably would use big words even."

Morrigan just rolled her eyes, but didn't go ask Lenya or even wanted answer from him anymore. Small victory, but with the witch all counted.

When Lenya returned to them she was muttering curses in two languages, "I hate bandits," She said.

"Were they robbed buy those bandits we killed?" Alistair asked and she nodded, "Bastards."

"They even took the girls pet lamb," Lenya muttered, "What kind of man steals from the children?"

"A dead one," Morrigan said, "You already severed his head, so he certainly won't go doing something like that again, so could we get on with our business here so we can get out of this filthy village?"

Alistair wanted to strangle the woman for being so heartless and from the looks Lenya was giving Morrigan she was at least considering slapping her. Morrigan returned her stare with an even look. How she did that was beyond him. Lenya was scary when she was angry.

Lenya sighed, "I did find out that the templars have promised reward for anyone who solves the bandit problem. So we might get some money from them."

"That's good. We need money," Alistair smiled, "We are running low on food and we both could use a better armor."

"There's nothing wrong with my armor," Lenya protested.

"Except that it has arrow holes on the chest there," Alistair said and pointed at her chest.

"Been staring at my chest a lot then?" Lenya asked innocently, but this time he was ready for it.

"Not at all, but I did see where the arrows hit you on top of that tower," Alistair congratulated himself of that. No blushing this time.

"So you don't stare at my chest at all?" Lenya asked sounding disappointed, "I guess it's just natural since Morrigan's breasts are bigger than mine and more easily seen," She added and watched Morrigan very, very shamelessly.

"Wait... what?" Alistair didn't know what to say and the damned blush was coming again.

"Stop staring at my breasts!" Morrigan exclaimed, but to his surprise she wasn't talking to him.

"I wish I could," Lenya sighed theatrically, "We all have our burdens to bear. Yours is to own exquisite breasts," She added and then turned around, "Such a cruel world," She added and started to walk towards the inn.

"What just happen?" Alistair asked staring after Lenya.

Morrigan muttered to herself and that made him feel much better. He had to learn how Lenya did that.

* * *

><p>Village had never seen so many poor souls than it was now. Refugees poured in from every direction. Leliana had heard so many sad stories by now that it made her heart bleed and if it were not for her vision she wouldn't spend anymore time at the inn.<p>

Leliana felt like this was where she should be. Why that was, she had no idea, but she put her faith in the Maker.

"More ale!" One of the soldiers Loghain had left to the village yelled and then threatened a refugee who came too close to him.

Leliana didn't know why those men were here. They certainly weren't helping anyone. At the beginning someone had gone to report the bandits to them, but they'd just laughed at him and threatened to beat him if he bothered them again. They were looking for someone. That much was certain. They had been asking around if anyone had seen any of the people they searched. They had given descriptions of several people. One was even a Dalish elf out of all things.

Commotion at the door drew Leliana's attention and then she gasped. At the doorway, there was now standing a red haired elf. Heavily armed elf at that and if she knew anything about elves, this elf was also a Dalish. She was accompanied by a huge mabari and a young man and a chasind looking woman.

Loghain's men also noticed them and then advanced towards the elf, "Well, look at what we have here men," The leader said, "I think we've just been blessed."

"Didn't we spend all morning asking about an elf by this very description?" One soldier asked, "And everyone said they hadn't seen one."

"It seems we were lied to," The leader said.

"Or it might be that we just got here you stupid shem," The elf said. Leliana saw that she was ready to fight. Maybe even eager to fight.

"Who you knife-eared wench are calling stupid?" The leader asked with threatening voice. The elf studied him for a moment and a smile spread on her lips. She was not even a little bit threatened by the men, "Guess," She said smiling.

"Oh boy, here we go again," Leliana heard the blond man behind the elf say.

Leliana felt a need to go and try to stop the violence, "Gentlemen, surely there is no need for trouble," She said and walked to the pair that was staring each other. The elf turned her head slightly and her eyes scanned her quickly. Only stopping for a little longer on the sign of the chantry on her robes. Elves blue eyes turned scornful, but Leliana didn't let that stop her, "These are no doubt just more poor souls seeking refuge."

"They are more than that," The leader of the soldiers said, "They are Grey Wardens and responsible for the death of good king Cailan and they are traitors," Grey Wardens? - Leliana thought - that explained why the elf wasn't even a little bit intimidated about these men, "You protect these traitors and you get the same as them."

"And that coming from the man whose leader left his own king to die when he was supposed to flank the darkspawn," The elf said, "Cursed backstabbing coward," She added and now her eyes were shining with fury. Leliana knew then that there was no way this could be solved peacefully and was proven right when the leaders face turned red and he yelled at the elf that he was going to kill her for slander and that he was going to kill Leliana herself as well, because she had tried to solve things peacefully.

Fight that broke out was intense, but the elf was a marvel to watch. She moved with fluid motions through the battle and made short work of the soldiers while the young man who came with her, held the leader and two others in one place. She decided to help the young man because the elf really didn't seem to need help and she already had one apparently. The huge mabari kept enemies off from her back with brutal efficiency.

When there was only the leader and one other left, the leader dropped his weapon and lifted his hands up, but was tackled by the mabari.

"Wait, wait we surrender!" The leader yelled as the dogs teeth closed around his arm. Leliana saw the elf lifting her hand and the mabari stopped biting, but didn't release the arm.

"Good, they've learned their lesson and we can all stop fighting, now," Leliana said and the elf turned to watch her like she was crazy, "There is no need to kill them."

"Why not?" The elf asked incredulously, "They certainly tried to kill us," She added and stared at the leader who was now pale as a ghost. She didn't remove her sword tip from his throat.

"But they failed and I don't wish death on anyone," Leliana pleaded to her. She gave a quick look to the young man who'd come with the elf, but saw that the fate of these men was only in the hands of the elven woman. He would not be any help to Leliana. Nor would be the chasind woman. She looked bored.

For all her knowledge of persuading techniques Leliana didn't have any idea how to get through to the Dalish elf in front of her. So she just watched her into the eyes, pleading. There was something moving between them. She could feel it, but what that was she had no idea.

"You are a lucky little shem," The elf said finally and removed the sword from his throat, "Take a word to Loghain and tell him that he will get what he deserves," Leliana had no idea what had made the elf change her mind. Was it her or was it something else? - Leliana thought, puzzled.

"Right away, ma'am," The leader said and tried to get up, but he was stopped, by the mabari, who looked at the elf questioningly.

"Abelas, spit that thing out off your mouth. You don't know where that has been," The elf said and the mabari released the arm and started to gag theatrically. The elf chuckled at him and started to talk to the mabari with the language of the elves and the dog started to wag its tiny tail happily.

"You know, Lenya," The young man said, "It's rather scary how he understand what you say in elvish. He was raised by humans after all."

"He's a smart boy," The elf, Lenya, said and scratched the ears of the dog who barked at her happily.

"Good thing there's at least one smart one with us," The chasind woman said.

"Ha, ha Morrigan," The young man said, "You better run shems," He then said to the two Loghain's men who were confused of what to do, "She usually don't let humans go with their heads on their shoulders so you better hurry before she changes her mind," He added and gave a nod towards the elf.

The leader of the soldiers gave the elf one terrified look and then they pretty much ran out of the tavern.

"I've only cut the head off from one human so far, Alistair," Lenya said, "Hardly enough to go saying I usually do it. All others were darkspawn."

"It had more weight than saying you give them a nasty glare," The young man, Alistair, said, "Besides, the day is still young. I'm sure we can find more bandits for you to behead."

"And what's with you calling them shems?" Lenya asked and now her voice seemed to be indignant.

"You keep calling humans shems all the time and you always sound like you've tasted something bad so I thought it's an insult," Alistair said.

Lenya shook her head in disbelief, "Well, I guess you could say it's an insult. It means humans," She explained.

"Oh!" Alistair said and then he blushed, "Should we talk to her," He said and tried to look at the ground and nod towards Leliana at the same time.

"Why?" Lenya asked looking puzzled, "I don't need anything from the chantry," The way she said the chantry, like it was something evil, shook Leliana a bit.

"She did help us in the fight," Alistair pointed out.

"Like we needed help," Lenya snorted, "But if it makes you feel better then fine. Let's talk to her," And then she turned towards Leliana. Her face was a mask of disinterest like she didn't care what Leliana had to say. Lenya was obviously talking to her just because she was doing a favor to the young man.

"I apologize for interfering, but I couldn't just sit by and not help," Leliana said. As good start as any.

"Just who are you, anyhow?" Lenya asked bluntly.

"Let me introduce myself," Leliana said, trying to hide the discomfort, she felt because of Lenya's obvious disinterest towards her, "I am Leliana, one of the lay sisters of the chantry here in Lothering. Or I was."

Lenya looked at Leliana like she was an idiot, "You assume that I know anything about your damned chantry or that I even care," Obviously chantry wasn't a good topic to talk with her. That made what Leliana was going to say even more difficult.

"I joined the chantry to live a life of religious contemplation, but I am no priest or even an initiate," Leliana tried to explain, but saw that Lenya really didn't care.

"You can call me Lenya, if you must," Lenya said finally. Well, at least she gave Leliana, her name.

"Those men said you're a Grey Warden. You will be battling the darkspawn, yes? That is what Grey Wardens do?" Leliana asked.

"We also arrange killer parties with lots of cheese," Alistair said making Lenya smile a little. Leliana decided to ignore his words. It was Lenya who she had to convince, not him.

"I know after what happened, you'll need all the help you can get," Leliana said and drew a deep breath before continuing. Moment of truth, "That's why I'm coming along."

Lenya's expression would have been funny if Leliana had been looking at it from somewhere else and if she'd not been the one who made that expression happen, "Alistair?" Lenya finally said, "Have you written in my forehead that I collect stray shems or something?"

"I wouldn't dare to go anywhere near your forehead. So, no, there isn't anything written on it," Alistair replied without a hint of humor.

"Just checking," Lenya said and then turned back to Leliana, "I'm going to humor you on this one," She then said to her. She seemed to be morbidly curious now, "Just what help would you be to me?" She asked.

The moment she had been dreading had come so she took a few more deep breaths before she answered, "The Maker told me to join you," Leliana said and saw the scornful glint return in Lenya's eyes, but she'd already jumped from the cliff so she might as well continue, "Surely he would not do so without a good reason."

"What do I care about what your god wants?" Lenya asked almost angrily. As a Dalish she probably had no reason to like chantry or the Maker at all.

"He is not just my god. The Maker have love for all!" Leliana started and noticed horrified look appear on Alistair's face and now Lenya's face showed barely contained rage. That had been definitely wrong thing to say, "I... I know you may not believe me, but I had a dream... a vision!"

"More crazy?" Alistair asked curiously, "I thought we were all full up."

"Look at the people here. They are lost in their despair, and this darkness, this chaos... will spread. The Maker does not want this," Leliana pleaded, but she also saw that she didn't get through to Lenya, "What you do, what you are meant to do, is the Makers work. Let me help!"

"I am NOT doing Makers work!" Lenya said with a voice that was all ice, "I don't want nothing to do with this Maker of yours. We don't need you, sister," She added angrily and then she just left the inn. The chasind, Morrigan, chuckled at her and then followed Lenya. Lenya's mabari whined apologetically at Leliana and then followed his mistress out off the inn.

"Sorry, sister," Alistair said apologetically, "You were doing very well there until you brought the Maker to it. She has issues with the chantry and telling her that she might do their work is not the best way to get in her good graces."

"But I..." Leliana sighed. This didn't really go as she'd planned it. She was not ready to give up just yet though, "I will go, for now. It's not important that you believe what I say. Only that you serve the Maker at the end."

"As I said you might want to avoid telling her she does Makers work," Alistair smiled, "Just a friendly hint, sister," Then he turned to leave.

"Think about it, please? That's all I ask," Leliana said.

"I can promise you that I think about it, but it is not me who decides and making Lenya forget all the Maker talk might be beyond my capabilities," Alistair said and then he left the tavern as well.

Leliana watched Alistair go and then she sighed. This really was not going as she'd expected it to go. To be honest she didn't actually know how she'd expected it to go. Maybe like in the tales. She'd offer her help and everyone just believes her vision and then they go off to save the world from evil.

That made her chuckle despite everything. Maybe they had been right to turn down her offer after all. In any case she would not let this deter her and she knew what way the Wardens would be leaving the Lothering and she'd be waiting them there and renew her offer.

* * *

><p>"Wait up, Lenya," Lenya heard Alistair yell behind her and she slowed her pace a little so he could catch up.<p>

"Are all the chantry people insane like that?" Lenya asked from him.

"Most likely," Alistair replied, "Not that I think she was your regular chantry people though. They actually don't believe on visions and dreams from the Maker."

"Great, she was just your general crazy people," Lenya shook her head, "How do I attract these crazy people?"

"I choose not to be insulted by that," Alistair said, "But I think it takes another crazy person to know other crazy persons."

"Ah, so it's me then that's completely nuts," Lenya said smiling a little, "Good to know."

"I was a bit surprised that you let those two men live," Alistair said, changing the subject.

"Me too," Lenya shrugged, "I don't know, but it somehow didn't feel right to kill them in front of all those refugees there. They were as scared of us, as they were of those soldiers and killing them in cold blood might have been bad for Grey Wardens."

"So it was practicality that made you spare them?" Alistair asked.

"Yes and no," Lenya replied and then she snorted, "I may as well be crazy for all the nonsense I keep saying."

"Being crazy is not necessarily a bad thing," Alistair pointed out.

"Maybe," Lenya smiled, "Come on then my lunatics. I saw some board up there that seem to offer some sort of work and we could use more coins and we also need to go to see the templars in the chantry so we can get the reward from killing the bandits."

* * *

><p>Few hours later they were returning back to the village from a brief trip outside of it, to deal with another group of bandits. They had cleared three groups of bandits and that should give them enough coin to purchase the goods they would need on the road.<p>

If they were lucky they might find new armor for Alistair and maybe even one for Lenya herself. She didn't want to admit it to Alistair, but the armor Master Ilen had made for her was not at it's best anymore. It really did have arrow holes in it and it did show bit more skin than she was comfortable to show while moving amongst the shems.

Loud murmuring sound made her stop and she noticed a quite a lot of shems standing between them and the village. From the looks of them they were farmers and the like.

"What now?" Lenya asked from Alistair who shrugged. So this was not some shemlen custom she knew nothing about.

"We heard what was said. You are a Grey Warden," The leader of the shems said, "We don't know if you killed King Cailan or not and Maker forgive us, we don't care. That bounty on your heads could feed lots of hungry bellies."

She stared at the man incredulously, "You do understand that if you attack us you don't have to worry about your belly ever again?" She asked, but her words were spoken to the deaf ears. The leader of the group lunged towards Lenya and she stepped aside before unsheathing her weapons, "Idiots," She muttered and cut the leaders throat with her sword.

Ensuing fight didn't last long. The shems were untrained, undisciplined and in most cases unarmed. She and Alistair on the other hand were armed and highly trained, Abelas was a war hound and Morrigan was a very skilled mage.

"Stupid shems," Lenya muttered when the last of the farmers was killed by Abelas, "I didn't want to kill them," She sighed. Shems or not, she did not feel good about killing them. No one should ever be in the position where they have to attack armed men to feed their families. She would never understand the thing shems called a civilization. Clan would never abandon it's members like this.

"There was nothing else we could have done," Alistair said.

"Don't you think I know that?" Lenya asked angrily, "It's the whole cursed shem way of living that is sickening. You leave your own to die of hunger, make them desperate enough to attack armed men so they could feed their families. This is a sickness almost as bad as the blight."

"Why do you wonder about that?" Morrigan asked, "It is the survival of the strongest as it should be. If these people are not strong enough to feed their families they deserve what they get."

"This would never happen with the clans. We do not abandon our own," Lenya said and gave a nasty glare at Morrigan who ignored it completely, "This is something that shems do."

"I know you've seen only the worst of what humans can do after you left your clan, but there are also good people amongst us. Not everyone is backstabbing bastards you've seen so far," Alistair said and for once he did not flinch when Lenya glared at him, "I admit it, that we make it damn hard to find the good ones, but when I see one I'll let you know," He added then, with a little bit lighter tone.

Lenya shook her head and sighed, "I won't be holding my breath while waiting that to happen," She said smiling slightly, "Should we bury them or let someone know they are here?"

"I don't think it will be good idea for us to go and tell anyone that we just killed whole lot of refugees," Alistair replied, "As much as I hate to leave them here I think that would be the wisest thing for us to do."

"I don't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with the idiot," Morrigan said.

"Alright," Lenya nodded and sighed again before they headed towards the village.

* * *

><p>"What is that?" Lenya asked and pointed at the huge man in a cage.<p>

"I don't know," Alistair replied.

"Let's go talk to it," Lenya said then and walkeds to the cage.

After a brief talk with the man in a cage they found out that he was a qunari and that he had been sentenced to die in that cage because he had murdered whole farm hold. Including the children.

Alistair thought it was a bit cruel way to execute someone, but he also thought the man deserved his fate. Lenya however disagreed, that was why they were now on their way to talk to the revered mother so she could take the qunari with them.

"Are you insane?" He asked just before they stepped inside the chantry again.

"You've asked that three times already," Lenya said, "What makes you think my answer have changed?"

"You never know," Alistair sighed, "I just think it is not very wise to take a convicted murderer with us."

Lenya stopped and turned to look at him. Her eyes were serious, as was her voice when she spoke, "I am asking you to trust me in this even though I can't explain why," She said. "You've said that I am the leader and as such I am making the decision here and now, that we are going to take that qunari with us."

"Alright." Alistair said, "I do trust you, but this just seems a bit odd," He added and even to his own surprise he did trust her, "Just try not to let your disdain towards the chantry show too much when we speak with the revered Mother."

"I try, but I can't promise anything," Lenya said making Alistair sigh. Guess that was as much as he should have expected.

When they stepped inside the revered mothers room, she was sitting on a chair and had two templars guarding her. She studied them curiously and bit warily. Mostly Lenya and Morrigan. Armed elves were rare and Morrigan looked like a chasind.

"Will you be making a donation to the chantry, my friends?" The revered mother asked when they stood in front of her, "You look like you've salvaged bit more than most who make it here."

Alistair noticed that Lenya was about to say something like a suggestion where the mother could stick the chantry so he hurried to speak before Lenya managed to say anything, "We don't have much, but we can offer ten silvers," Alistair hoped Lenya would not flay him alive when they got out of the chantry. By the looks she was giving him she was at least considering it.

"Thank you, my friend," The revered mother said, "What can I do for you then?"

"We are Grey Wardens and we are in need of your help," Lenya said after a brief moment of silence.

"A Grey Warden? Here?" The revered mother said and then she added quite ominously, "Oh dear!" That didn't sound very promising, "You put me in a difficult position. You must know that Teyrn Loghain declared the Grey Wardens to be outlaws."

"So I've heard," Lenya said, "That backstabbing bastard tries to cover his treason by blaming us for it," She spat out and then added in elvish, "Loghain, ar tu na'lin emma mi!" The revered mother had a shocked expression on her face.

"Teyrn Loghain?" Revered mother said after she recovered enough from her shock. She did still watch Lenya warily. Alistair wondered if she knew what Lenya had said in elvish. He certainly didn't, "That is as hard for me to believe as is his condemnation of the Wardens," The revered mother added shaking her head, "There is price on your heads. Lay low and I promise to keep your presence a secret. That is a best I can do."

"I want to talk about Sten, the qunari you imprisoned," Lenya said after another silence. She was still radiating anger, but the explosion Alistair had feared had been averted... for now.

"It might have been kinder to execute him, but I leave his fate to the Maker," The revered mother said, "Why does he interest you?"

"I want him freed. I may have use for him," Lenya said bluntly making Alistair shake his head. She was sometimes as subtle as a battering ram.

"Then his next victims might count you and me as their murderers," The revered mother said.

"I was thinking you might release him into my custody," Lenya said and she sounded only barely polite. To Alistair, Lenya sounded like she thought she was speaking to an idiot.

"To defend against the blight?" The revered mother asked and Lenya nodded, "Perhaps that is a form of atonement. But are you certain that you can control him?"

"If not, I will kill him. Problem solved," Lenya shrugged and that shocked expression returned to the revered mothers face.

"I... no. I cannot," The revered mother started, "There will be too much trouble for us if we are seen co-operating with you."

Lenya stared at the mother like she didn't understand what she was talking about. Alistair didn't blame her. It was just that kind of attitude that would doom the damn country.

"You do understand that the damn blight is coming here and you are worried what people think for the things you do here?" Lenya almost shouted at her, "I don't know why I even think that I might want to save you damned shems because you are cursed idiots. Not one of you can see that the darkspawn are the real enemy."

"The Maker cares no less for that qunari's victims than for the thousands that fell in Ostagar," The revered mother said sternly, "Now good day," She ended the conversation.

Lenya on the other hand was not finished, "You are quite right about the fact that your precious Maker cares as much for those victims as he cares about those who died at Ostagar. Which is absolutely nothing. He also doesn't care when the darkspawn destroy this village so good luck with the prayers," At that point Alistair got his hand over Lenya's mouth and her words were cut off. He hoped that no one else had heard. Revered mother had, but she looked at him sadly as she pulled Lenya away from the room.

* * *

><p>Lenya was seething. She couldn't be angry at Alistair for dragging her out off there and silencing her curses. He'd probably saved their lives. If she'd lost it there and done something stupid like threaten the old hag.<p>

She should hold it together better. No matter how much she hated the chantry she shouldn't lose it like that in the middle of their building and when surrounded by the templars protecting it. Getting killed like that would just be damn embarrassing.

Lenya would need to remember, that she was now amongst the people who actually believed for the damn thing and had given tremendous power to the chantry.

"Do you know anything about locks?" Lenya asked suddenly from Alistair when her thoughts returned back to the qunari and his cage.

"I know they keep things closed and that you need keys to open them," Alistair replied warily. He was obviously expecting her to yell at him because of what he'd done, "Why?"

"We need something that can open the lock from the cage of that qunari," Lenya replied, "I'll be damned if I after that leave him there."

"Is it really wise to go against the revered mothers decision?" Alistair asked.

"Absolutely," Lenya said, "If we are going to save this cursed land we are going to need help and as Duncan said, we do what must be done."

"You don't want to do that just to spite the revered mother?" Alistair asked studying her intently.

"Now what gave you that idea?" Lenya asked innocently. He was right of course, but only partly. Spiting the revered mother was only part of the reason why she wanted to release Sten. Feeling she'd had when talking to him was the main reason.

"I don't know," Alistair said, "You can call it a hunch," He added smiling.

"It seems we would need to find someone who can pick locks and who doesn't mind going against the orders of the revered mother," Lenya said, "Some one like that would be good to have with us in any case."

"I agree," Alistair nodded, "You remember what happen to that one chest in the wilds I tried to break open with a sword."

"I still don't understand from where locked and trapped chest ended up in a camp full of darkspawn," Lenya wondered, "But yes, I do remember and I also remember how Daveth called you an idiot for destroying the chest."

"Trapped chests should be banned," Alistair muttered and then he lifted his eyes to hers and became nervous, "You know, that woman who wanted to come with us..."

"No!" Lenya burst out more forcibly than she'd meant to, "I will not take with us a crazy person who thinks she gets visions from this Maker of yours and who thinks I'm somehow doing her Makers work."

"Just saying that she seemed to fight like a rogue," Alistair pointed out, but when he saw Lenya glare at him he shut up, "Where next then?" He changed the topic.

"Well, we do have all the supplies we need and we got that armor for you and new sword for me," Lenya said and unsheathed her sword and swirled the blade with a flick of her wrist... It was nicely balanced and even though it wasn't Dar'Misaan it was a really good sword nonetheless.

"I still think you should have bought the leather armor instead of the sword," Alistair said.

"I like swords and besides that leather armor was made for humans and it would have needed tremendous refitting to get it to fit me," Lenya said.

"Point taken, but I still would feel better if you'd be better protected," Alistair said.

"You just want to hear me when I move," Lenya snorted, "So I wouldn't scare you so often."

"Well..." Alistair said and then he smiled at her sheepishly.

"We are ready to leave this damned crazy village," Lenya then decided.

"Where are we going next?" Alistair asked.

"I'll decided once we are out of here," Lenya said.

* * *

><p>First sign Leliana noticed of the approaching Wardens was the clanking sound the young man, Alistair, made when he moved and the next was his voice speaking to his fellow Warden.<p>

"Well, you have to admit that saying revered mother that she was an idiot was not the best way to approach things," Leliana heard Alistair say.

"I didn't say she's an idiot. I said that all you shems are cursed idiots and she can pray to that stupid Maker of hers as much as she likes, but it won't save her stupid hide from the darkspawn," Leliana heard Lenya answer. Dear Maker – Leliana thougth - Lenya really despised humans and the chantry, "But she can be happy now that she won't be seen co-operating with us dangerous Grey Wardens. For the rest of her pitifully short life."

"Well, she do need to take in consideration of the people in power," Leliana heard Alistair say.

"As I said. Idiots," Lenya said and then she noticed Leliana, "You name them and they appear..." Leliana heard Lenya mutter making her cheek heat in anger. Which she swallowed. Getting angry at Lenya would not help her case at all.

"Oh, Hello again!" Leliana started, "So will you let me help you? Will you let me come?" She asked.

"Not you again." Lenya sighed.

"I'll be honest. When I heard about the darkspawn, I felt something urging me to leave my sheltered life in the cloister and do something. Anything," Leliana said and at the part where she said she'd felt something she saw something change in Lenya. Like she was now more interested and paying more attention to her.

Encouraged by that Leliana continued, "And then the vision... It cannot be coincident, that you are brought here so soon after I was called by the Maker," Like before, Lenya's eyes turned scornful when she mentioned Maker, but the interest didn't disappear.

"Her plea seems wholehearted and even though she seems a little... strange, she does have skill," Alistair said and turned to look at his fellow Warden. There was something moving between the two, "I vote to let her come along."

"Alistair, she's one archdemon short of a Blight," Lenya said making Leliana wince. That was pretty harshly said and a bit insulting, but the interest had not gone away from Lenya's eyes. That gave Leliana hope.

"Yes, but she seems more... 'Ooh, pretty colors!' Than 'Muahaha! I am Princess Stabbity! Stab, kill, kill!'" Alistair tried to convince Lenya who looked at him like he was crazy.

"Oh fine!" Lenya said finally and let out a deep sigh, "We do need a rogue after all and I guess even a crazy one is better than none."

"I think being a crazy is a pretty much required if you want to join us," Alistair said.

"Might be," Lenya shook her head, "We need to head back to the village and buy you a weapon and armor because you sure can't go around dressed like that," She continued and turned to talk to Leliana, "And if you know anything about picking locks I may have something I need you for."

"Thank you! I won't let you down, I promise!" Leliana assured happily.

"We'll see," Lenya just said and they turned to walk back to the village, "What is you preferred weapon?"

"A bow," Leliana replied.

"Good, we are missing ranged support and it is a damn tiring to run and kill all the archers on my own," Lenya said making Leliana stop. Lenya didn't just say that she killed archers by running at them, did she?

"You run to the archers?" Leliana asked incredulously.

"She does," Alistair said, "They are apparently were uncooperative and don't want to come to her so she could kill them without running," He added seriously.

"And she's not been shot?" Leliana asked curiously.

"Only once," Alistair said and his face darkened, "Anyway, she's quite skilled with those swords of hers," He obviously didn't want to talk about that one time and Lenya obviously was skilled, because she was still alive.

"Stop chatting back there and come. I want to get out of this filthy village as soon as possible," Lenya shouted back at them.

"We better go before she gets nasty," Alistair said and they hurried after Lenya.

Leliana shook her head and wondered what had she gotten herself into, but if the Maker wanted her here then this was where she should be.

Leliana followed the Wardens back to the Lothering.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Translations to elven language used in this chapter:<strong>_

_**Loghain, ar tu na'lin emma mi! = Loghain, I will see your blood on my blade!**_

_**Dar'Misaan = Dalish Longsword**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And we are done with the Lothering and got two new companions. One huge qunari and a lovely red head who Lenya seem to think is crazy. :)**

**I did change dialogs from the game again and made Alistair say some of the lines Warden actually says because it suits the story better. I am trying to stay as true to the game as I can, but small changes are must.**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter and please leave review. Those are most welcome.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Chapter 6 is here and Lenya and her group has left the Lothering behind them. Because of surprise email from Bioware that I got into the TOR beta last weekend getting this chapter ready for publishing got delayed a bit and even if Mondays are not the best times to do anything I got this chapter ready today. :)**

**Thank you for all those who've read this far, special thanks to those who reviewed or fave/alerted Lenya's story.**

**Very special thanks to my dear friend Faelan, your continued support for me and to my stories means a lot to me.**

**And the usual disclaimer. Bioware owns everything you recognize and all you don't belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, October 2013: Fixed grammar and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>A camp, about a days journey from Lothering<strong>

This was not really how Leliana had imagined things when Lenya had decided that she can join with them. First they'd gone to get armor for her and a bow and extra set of armor she had first assumed would be for Alistair since it had clearly been too large for Lenya herself.

Only after they got to the cage of the qunari prisoner, she had found out what the something Lenya might need Leliana's lock picking skills, was. In theory she had no problem letting Sten out and try to redeem himself, but this was against the revered mothers orders.

She had been sure that Lenya knew what she thought. Lenya had been studying her intently. Like evaluating her worth and her dedication to her promise.

"What are you thinking?" Alistair asked and sat beside her.

"Why she was so eager to take that qunari with her, but really didn't want to take me," Leliana replied truthfully.

"I did ask that to myself too," Alistair said, "She only asked to trust her, but didn't give any explanation as to why she was so adamant on taking him along."

"And you trust her?" She asked.

"Yes, as weird as it sounds, I do trust her," Alistair replied, "I don't understand her, but in this I do trust her."

"Is it because he's not a human that Lenya treats him differently?" Leliana had to ask.

"Might be." Alistair shrugged, "Lenya doesn't like humans. Well, except Morrigan for some reason, but I'm not sure she qualifies as human anyway," That made Leliana chuckle a bit.

"She likes you," Leliana pointed out.

"I doubt that," Alistair smiled a bit sadly, "She tolerates me because I'm the only other Grey Warden, but I wouldn't go and say that she likes me."

"You give too little credit to yourself," Leliana said. Alistair was quite insecure about his own worth, "She trusts you. Everyone could see that when we fought those darkspawn."

"That was a battle Lenya you saw," Alistair said and Leliana raised her brow questioningly. That was an odd thing to say, "I believe there is actually two Lenya's there. One who you see most of the time. She doesn't like humans, the chantry or cowards and shows that dislike very clearly. Then there is Lenya you see in battles. She is protective, utterly dedicated to those who are with her and respectful towards those who do their duty."

Leliana had noticed that too, but hadn't think anything about it. Lenya had been respectful to her after the fight. Complimented Leliana's skill with a bow and been completely different from what she was now for example.

"If you want to see completely different side of her. Watch her when she talks to Abelas," Alistair said suddenly, "It is amazing actually."

"She named her mabari Abelas?" Leliana asked puzzled. If what she knew about elven language was correct, abelas meant sorrow.

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "I think it means something in elvish, but she doesn't answer me when I ask her to translate it."

"If what I know, is correct, it means sorrow," Leliana said.

"I guess that makes sense," Alistair said and then he listened to something. Leliana heard it too. Lenya was whimpering in her tent and then they heard a scream.

"I better go to speak with her," Alistair said then and went to sit in front of Lenya's tent.

Leliana wondered what that was all about, but she also knew that Alistair would not answer her even if she'd ask. She might not be good at reading Lenya, but Alistair was like an open book.

* * *

><p>Lenya woke up on her own scream and it took a moment before she understood that she was awake and that the archdemon was not there with her. She stuck her fist in her mouth and stopped the sobs of relief that were about to come out. She would not cry or cover in fear and she sure as hell would not do so in front of the shems. She was damn sure the tent would not keep the sounds in and who knew who was standing near.<p>

She put her armor on and took her dagger with her, but left her sword where it was lying near her bedroll. Then she stepped outside and was greeted by Alistair. He was sitting near her tent and watched at her.

"Bad dreams, huh?" Alistair asked with an understanding tone. He probably did understand considering what she'd seen in her dreams. It did not make it any less creepy that he was sitting outside her tent and looking at it though, but she decided to let that go. For now.

"Must have been something I ate," Lenya said trying to bring levity in her voice, but failing at it completely.

"Drank, more like," Alistair said and despite herself she grinned at him, "As in the tainted blood, remember?"

"You actually think I would forget that so soon?" Lenya asked smiling, "Taste like that and the pain," A shiver ran through her, "On second thought, I think I would like to forget it."

"I know what you mean," Alistair smiled and shiver went through him as well, "You see, part of being Grey Warden is being able to hear the darkspawn. That's what your dream was. Hearing them," He explained and it did make sense. Not really nice news, but it did make sense and it was kind of an relief that it was not just herself who had just decided to dream of darkspawn in such great detail, "The archdemon, it... 'talks' to the horde, and we feel it just like they do. That's why we know this is really a Blight,"

"Are these dreams going to happen a lot?" Lenya asked, because if she would dream of the blasted thing every night she would probably kill herself soon.

"It takes a bit, but eventually you can learn to block the dreams out," Alistair replied, "Some of the older Grey Wardens say they can understand the archdemon a bit, but I sure can't."

"How long?" Lenya asked.

"It took two months for me, but after the archdemon started to talk through the taint I needed few more days to block it out again," Alistair replied, "During the blight it is said to be even harder, but you will also get more chances to practice because it happens more often."

"Great," Lenya sighed, "I wonder if Morrigan can cast a sleeping spell on me that knocks me out cold."

"I wouldn't suggest that. You'd be totally helpless if we are attacked while camping," Alistair said in serious tone.

"I know that," Lenya snapped at him, "And I'm not suggesting of using it all the time. Only on occasion where it is safer to sleep like that."

"Oh, right... Sorry," Alistair said blushing. How on the name of the Creators he kept blushing all the time was beyond her, "Anyhow, when I heard you trashing in your sleep, I thought I should tell you. It was scary at first for me too."

"I'm not frightened," Lenya said and she truly wasn't. Despite her waking up screaming. She was pissed at the archdemon for intruding in her dreams like that, but not frightened.

"Really?" Alistair says and it was obvious he didn't believe her, "I was screaming like a little girl and Duncan came to see if someone had attacked me. Not embarrassing at all," He chuckled, making Lenya smile. She saw the pain in her eyes though, when he mentioned Duncan.

Lenya turned her head and gave sign to Abelas who very subtly came to Alistair and whined a little. Absentmindedly Alistair started to scratch at his ears.

"Do you want to talk about Duncan?" Lenya asked her voice gentle. She knew that she could not talk to him like she normally did or he would shut down and that wasn't good for someone like him.

"You don't have to do that. I know you didn't know him as long as I did," Alistair shrugged dismissively.

"Doesn't mean I can't listen," Lenya Said.

"I... I should have handled it better. Duncan warned me right from the beginning that this could happen. Any of us could die in battle," Alistair said staring at the distance and taking comfort from Abelas who had lowered its huge head on his lap, "I shouldn't have lost it, not when so much is riding on us, not with the Blight and... and everything. I'm sorry."

"There is no need for apologize," Lenya said gently and Abelas gave a quiet agreeing whine at him. He lowered his head and smiled at the dog.

"I'd... like to have a proper funeral for him. Maybe once all this is done, if we're still alive. I don't think he had any family to speak of," Alistair said.

"What about other Grey Wardens?" Leliana asked. She had no idea how Grey Wardens honored their dead.

"I don't know. I have no idea what Grey Wardens do for their... when they fall in battle," Alistair replied. So he didn't know either. Seemed that they were sorely lacking the knowledge of what the Grey Wardens truly were.

Lenya didn't notice that Alistair was now looking at her until she lifted her eyes and met his. There was sadness in them, "The Dalish do not practice cremation, do they?" Alistair asked, "How do your people honor your dead?" He asked before she had time to answer to the first question.

"No," Lenya replied after a while, "We do not burn our dead. We bury them and plant a tree over their remains," She said quietly. That brought her thoughts too close to Tamlen and how they had to do the funeral rites without a body. Tears threatened to overcome her so she lowered her eyes to the ground.

"That... sounds quite beautiful, life springing from death," Lenya heard Alistair say in awe, "Thank you. Really, I mean it. It was good to talk about it. At least a little," His voice was full of gratitude.

"Anytime Alistair," Lenya said and got up. She reached into her tent and took her sword and then signaled Abelas to follow her when she headed into the forest.

* * *

><p>Lenya had surprised Alistair. Compassion was not what he'd expected from her. Well, not towards him anyway. He'd seen her softer side when she talked to Abelas, but never to anyone else.<p>

"Is she alright?" Leliana asked startling Alistair from his thoughts.

Alistair turned his head and watched the place where Lenya had disappeared and then he nodded, "She's alright," He replied, "It is a bit harsh when you start to sense the darkspawn for the first time."

"She was sensing darkspawn?" Leliana asked and looked around the camp like she was expecting darkspawn to attack them in any second.

"No, not like that," Alistair assured, "There are no darkspawn near us, but yes, she was sensing them in her sleep. It gives us terrible nightmares until we learn to block them out."

"How horrible!" Leliana gasped.

"Pretty much," Alistair nodded, "It might be worse for her since she joined during the Blight. Normally you just hear darkspawn, but since this is a Blight we also hear the archdemon. Not something you want to see in your dreams."

"I've never heard that mentioned in the stories," Leliana said.

"Yes, that is something we leave out of the recruitment adds," Alistair said and then momentarily thought that maybe he shouldn't have told about the dreams to Leliana, but then he shrugged. It was only fair that their companions knew. Morrigan already knew so Leliana knowing couldn't be any worse.

"Are you sure she's alright?" Leliana asked again and now she was watching worriedly at the direction Lenya had went.

"She says she's not frightened by the dreams and I'm not brave enough to go and tell her that she might be lying to me," Alistiar said, "I don't recommend that to you either."

"But, she's all alone in the forest," Leliana pointed out, still watching at the forest.

"No, she isn't and even if she were you don't go telling her that she shouldn't go wandering alone in the forests because it is dangerous," Alistair said and a shiver ran through him. No, absolutely not going to do that. Ever again - he thought.

"I take your word for it," Leliana said smiling, "Was it that bad?" She asked then.

"Was what that bad?" Alistair asked puzzled.

"Was it that bad when you told her not to go alone in the forest?" Leliana said smiling at him and he cursed. Why was he surrounded with women who were way too observant.

"It wasn't pleasant," Alistair said, "She is a damn scary for someone who looks so delicate."

"You are afraid of her?" Leliana asked curiously.

"Of course not!" Alistair let out an indignant snort and tried to look courageous. Failing at it completely if Leliana's expression was trusted. She looked amused, "I'm terrified of her."

"I will leave that out off the stories. It wouldn't look good if mighty Grey Warden is terrified of one elf," Leliana laughed.

"Wait, what? What stories? There is no stories!" Alistair panicked.

"Not yet, but there will be," Leliana said, "Or do you think that the story of the two last Grey Wardens who against all odds saved their country from a great evil is not worth telling?" She asked smiling.

"Is that why you are here?" A silent voice asked and Lenya stepped out off the shadows. There was no telling how long she'd been there listening, "To see what happens, so you can weave it into a heroic tale to be told in the taverns and parties," Lenya added and studied Leliana intently.

"No, that is not why I'm here, but that doesn't mean I can't do that as well," Leliana replied, "I am or I was a minstrel before I joined the chantry and I love stories."

She was a minstrel? Well that explained few things. It also raised a question of what kind of minstrel she'd been.

"I love stories as well," Lenya said surprising Alistair. He'd expected an explosion, but again Lenya acted completely different than what he expected of her. She was a very confusing woman, "I used to sit and listen the stories Hahren Paivel told to us when we were sitting by the fire. I imagined that I was in them. Well, on the ones where the hero did not die, anyway," There was a terrible longing in her voice as she spoke. She was missing her clan that was more than clear, "Who'd thought I may end up being one of the heroes in a story. Hope I get the girl in the end and don't end up like most of the heroes in the stories. Dead and forgotten."

Alistair stared at her with his mouth open. Lenya had just spoken more about herself than all the things she'd said, about herself before, combined. And she'd told them to Leliana who she thought was crazy and who she'd took with them only because he'd asked to.

"You might want to close your mouth, Alistair," Lenya said snapping him out of the shock, "There are nasty insects that might want to go in and make a nest in there," She grinned at him. Alistair snapped his mouth shut in a hurry which made Lenya laugh. It was always a shock to hear her laugh and his mouth tried to drop open again.

"Evil woman!" Alistair muttered which made Lenya and Leliana both chuckle.

"Those two durgen'len we saved from the darkspawn are following us and then there is also a shem who either wants to get killed or is just an idiot who is coming this way." Lenya then said changing the subject. Alistair was grateful of that.

"Why do you think he wants to get killed?" Alistair asked curiously.

"Because he makes so much noise while moving," Lenya shrugged, "Even more than you make," She then added. Well, that certainly was a lot of noise – Alistair thought, "It's like he's shouting 'Here I am bandits! Come kill and rob me!'"

"Is he armed?" Alistair asked and Lenya shook her head, "I see... and I understand why you think he's an idiot then. Should we go see what he wants?"

"Either that or just kill him," Lenya said and then she shrugged, "But then again if he gets children and that trait is passed onto his kids we might get louder shems and the People can then avoid or find them easier. Not to mention they will be more stupid."

"Good plan," Alistair said smiling. He just couldn't help himself. The way Lenya so casually spoke of these things, was funny. Even if somethings she said were pretty grim or horrible.

"Come on you two," Lenya said, "Lets go welcome them."

"You want me to come as well?" Leliana asked, sounding surprised.

"You never know, but he just might be the archdemon in disguise and you would miss the heroic ending of our tale," Lenya said with serious tone making Alistair burst out laughing.

"You are mocking me," Leliana said, but she did not sound offended. Look on her face was... intrigued and she was studying Lenya intently.

"Maybe a little," Lenya grinned at her and headed out off the camp. Alistair followed her still laughing. It felt good to laugh.

* * *

><p>Maybe everything was not so bad after all - Leliana thought as she followed the Wardens out of the camp. Lenya was complex and confusing person, but if she could get to know her better understanding would surely follow. Alistair on the other hand was easy to read and she envied his openness and almost innocent view of the world.<p>

Lenya and Alistair complimented each other nearly perfectly. On other circumstances Leliana might have bet on the chance that there might be a romance between them eventually, but she had not missed it when Lenya had said she wanted a girl in the end.

Leliana also had not missed the terrible sadness and longing that had appeared on Lenya's voice when she talked about her clan. She must miss them terribly.

Leliana knew that she had to be careful when talking with Lenya. She was certain that Lenya had not forgot anything about what she'd said about the Maker and Lenya still did not trust her. Leliana also understood that the relaxed way Lenya had talked to her was because Alistair had been there. Alone she would have gotten very different response, she was sure of that.

But the event did give her hope that maybe she could earn Lenya's trust after all. That had been her greatest concern.

"Abelas, here," Leliana heard Lenya yell and when she looked up she saw Lenya's mabari standing in front of a frightened man. When the mabari heard his mistresses voice he ran to her side.

"Alright shem," Lenya said to the man, "Who are you? Why are you here and why on earth are you making such infernal noise while you move?"

"My name is Levi, Levy Dryden, my lady," The man said and gave a nervous look towards Lenya. Who was seemingly absentmindedly throwing her dagger up in the air and then catching it, "I am searching the Grey Wardens that might have survived the Ostagar," The man added.

"And why do you want to find the Grey Wardens?" Lenya asked and her voice was now dangerous.

"I knew their leader Duncan and he promised me something," Levi said quickly. Leliana was sure that he just realized the danger he was in if his answer did not satisfy Lenya.

"And what did Duncan promise you?" Lenya asked.

"Th... that's only between me and the Grey Wardens," Levi said with a shaky voice.

"And between you and me," Lenya said, "Speak," She commanded and placed the tip of her dagger under Levi's chin.

Levi's face seemed to drain from blood and he was pale as a ghost. He had to realize that Lenya would kill him if he would not talk, "I... I can't. If the information gets into a wrong hands it might hurt the Wardens," Levi said to Leliana's surprise.

"I don't think he's sent here to kill us," Alistair said to Lenya who glanced at him and nodded before removing the dagger from Levi's throat.

"If he is I think I'd like to see what kind of an idiot hired him," Lenya said. Leliana could have told them that even the most harmless looking man could be an assassin, but even she was sure that Levi was not an assassin. She doubted he had ever killed anything. And of course she really didn't want to say anything that might reveal her past. Not yet anyway or Lenya might just kill her.

"We are Grey Wardens you've been looking for," Alistair said to the man, "I am Alistair and the terrifying lady there is Lenya and we are all that is left of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden."

"That's... That's horrible," Levi said, "Only two Wardens left?"

"Loghain's betrayal was pretty thorough on getting rid of the order," Lenya said, "Anyway, you said you've been looking us."

"Yes," Levi said, "You are hard to find."

"Did you forget to put the sign up again?" Lenya asked Alistair who became puzzled, "The one that says _'Camp of the last two Grey Wardens in Ferelden'_." Lenya added.

"Aah, that sign. No, I must have forgot," Alistair said finally catching up what Lenya was talking.

"How do you think people will ever find us if you always forget to put up the sign?" Lenya Asked, "You need to be more thorough with your duties, Warden Alistair."

"Sorry, ma'am. That won't happen again," Alistair said and saluted to her.

"Smart ass," Lenya chuckled and turned back to Levi who watched them his eyes wide with shock, "Let's go back to the camp and you can tell us what it is that Duncan promised to you," Then she turned to watch Leliana, "Leliana, you can go tell the durgen'len that they can come to our camp if they want. Abelas can show you where they are."

"As you wish, Lenya," Leliana said and looked at the mabari who studied her with his head slightly tilted. "Show me the way, boy," She said and Abelas glanced at his mistress before heading to north.

She didn't know why Lenya had chosen her to go meet the dwarves, but she was not going to disappoint her.

When she got back to the camp with the dwarves, she saw that Lenya and Alistair were studying maps and Levi was standing near looking hopeful. That probably meant that Lenya had decided to help him on what ever it had been that Duncan had promised him. Alistair did not look all that happy though.

"That is quite out off our way," Leliana heard Alistair say with a tone that sounded like he was arguing.

"Do you think I don't know that?" Lenya asked almost angrily, "But I still think it's the best place for us to start this hopeless quest of ours," She added, "Neither of us know much about the Wardens and that place used to be headquarters of the Ferelden Wardens so the chances are that we could find information we need from there."

"I still think we should go to the Redcliffe first," Alistair said, "I didn't like the news we got about it at Lothering," He added with a tone that sounded like he was trying to guilt Lenya somehow. It wasn't working if the look Lenya had was any indication.

"I didn't like the news we got about the mages tower or the dwarves or that there seem to be werewolves in the Brecilian forest, but I still think our best course of action is to reclaim the Soldier's Peak," Lenya said, "You admitted that you don't know much about the Grey Wardens since you've been in the order only a short time and I sure as hell don't know much about them. We don't know how we are supposed to kill the archdemon when we get to it and you said you won't leave Ferelden so we could go to Orlais and ask Wardens there what to do."

"I know..." Alistair started, but obviously didn't know what to say, "The rumors..." He tried again.

"Do you think I don't want to go to the Brecilian forest and see that my people are alright and not plagued by werewolves instead of traipsing around the shem lands?" Lenya asked and let out a resigned sigh, "I am not making this decision just to spite you."

"I didn't mean..." Alistair started again.

"You are free to lead if you so much want to go to the Redcliffe, but until you want to take this cursed responsibility off from me, we are going to the Peak," Lenya said and now her voice had finality in it.

"Alright, Soldier's Peak it is then," Alistair said quickly and then he left. Leliana had known Alistair would do that. He seemed to be terrified that he would need to take the responsibility of the leadership and almost happily let Lenya have it. Leliana felt sorry for Lenya even though she seemed more than capable of shouldering the leadership responsibility.

"I see you found the durgen'len's, " Lenya said to her after Alistair had disappeared.

"Abelas took me straight to them," Leliana said, "He's a smart boy," She added to the mabari who barked happily.

"He's also prone to flattery, aren't you boy?," Lenya said and Abelas wagged his small tail enthusiastically.

"So, we are going to the Soldier's Peak?" Leliana asked cautiously.

"Are you going to tell me I shouldn't do it as well, because if you are you can just go where he just went," Lenya said and her voice changed a bit colder.

"No, of course not," Leliana said shaking her head almost furiously. Lenya studied her for a moment and then her posture relaxed, "Alistair not happy about it?" Leliana asked, weighing her words carefully.

"You could say that," Lenya snorted, "He is all too happy to let me lead and take the responsibility of the things we do, but he sure whines a lot if I decide to do something he doesn't agree with," She shook her head, "I'd be happy to let him lead," Lenya said and then after a moment shook her head again, "Well, that's a lie... I guess, since I don't think he's ready to do it, but I would let him do it regardless if he wants because he is the senior Warden."

"What other decision he does not agree with?" Leliana asked curiously.

"Well, mostly taking Morrigan and Sten with us," Lenya replied, "He would want us to have respectable group approved by the Maker most likely instead of talented individuals that probably aren't approved by the Maker of his."

"I did wonder why did you want to take qunari with you," Leliana said cautiously, "He did murder all those people."

"I can't explain that to you so you would understand," Lenya said, "You all just have to trust me on this," She added. It was obvious that Leliana wouldn't get answer from her. Not yet anyway.

"How about Morrigan then?" Leliana asked.

"That's easy. Asha'bellanar asked us to take her with us as a repayment for saving our lives," Lenya replied, "She also told that we would fail unless Morrigan is with us and only a fool will disregard what Asha'bellanar tells you."

"Who is Asha'bellanar?" Leliana asked curiously.

"The Woman of Many years," Lenya replied and then sighed as she noticed Leliana's confused expression, "You might know her as Flemeth," Lenya said and that made Leliana's eyes go wide.

"But Flemeth is just a myth," Leliana said.

"Every myth has some truth in them," Lenya shrugged, "My people..." She started and stopped abruptly, "Anyway, we owed her and taking Morrigan with us was what she asked in return," Lenya had been about to say something about her people, but obviously remembered that she was talking with a human.

"I see," Leliana said and then she asked the question that she was not sure she wanted Lenya to answer, "Why didn't you want to take me with you?"

"The fact that you went and told me that I'm doing your Makers work and that he told you to come with us and you were wearing the robes of your cursed chantry," Lenya replied and Leliana winced, "Nothing good ever comes from the chantry as far as my people are concerned."

"Chantry isn't bad," Leliana said and saw that scornful look appear on Lenya's eyes.

"Isn't it?" Lenya spat, "We must have missed the goodness of your chantry when they came in their righteous quest to destroy our home and try to make us slaves again," She snarled at her, "Unless of course that is your chantry's way of showing goodness," Lenya added and without another word she turned around and left Leliana standing there in shock. Abelas whined a little and then followed her mistress.

"I told you that you shouldn't talk about Chantry with her," Alistair said and walked to her. He had obviously been listening what they were talking.

"But she thinks chantry is this evil thing," Leliana said.

"To her and most likely to all Dalish it is evil," Alistair said, "The chantry was after all responsible of the destruction of the Dales."

"But that was centuries ago," Leliana said defensibly.

"And just because 'twas long time ago you think the Dalish have forgotten it?" Morrigan asked with a mocking tone, "I'm sure the chantry is eager to forget all the injustices it has done over the years."

"Oh, shut up, you harpy," Alistair said angrily.

"Eloquent as ever," Morrigan said, "Just because the chantry wench doesn't want to hear the truth I shouldn't speak it?" She asked then.

Leliana didn't hear what Alistair said to that because she turned her back on them and stormed off to the forest. She didn't look where she was going and she didn't care.

Leliana had known that Lenya did not like the chantry. She did not hide it after all, but she'd thought that she could make her see it was not like she thought it was. What she had not realized was that the Dalish remembered the fall of the Dales and that it was the chantry that had called the exalted march on it.

There was no way she could make Lenya see the chantry as she did. To Leliana herself the chantry was a place of refuge and spiritual enlightenment, but to Lenya it was a sign of oppression and destruction of her culture.

For a moment she thought that she should just pack her stuff and leave. Then she heard it. Soft words spoken with the language of the elves.

Curiosity got better of her and she moved silently closer to Lenya. When she got Lenya in her view she stopped and tried to blend in the shadows as best as she could.

Lenya was sitting on the ground, her hands around Abelas's neck. Leliana didn't understand the words she was speaking, but she could feel the sadness and longing from them and saw the tears that were falling from Lenya's eyes and moistening her cheeks.

This was completely different side of their leader. Leliana was certain that no one had ever seen it and that Lenya might just kill her if she would find out she was there. She also understood now what Alistair had meant when he'd said that she should watch Lenya when she spoke to Abelas.

Knowing that she should leave, but captured by the view of Lenya's softer side, she continued to watch.

* * *

><p>They gathered their camp in silence in the morning and started their journey to north and to the Soldier's Peak.<p>

Alistair had, had a glorious fight with Morrigan last night and neither of them had noticed that Leliana had disappeared until much later. Sten had been stoically on watch and if he thought anything of their display he did not say anything.

Alistair had seen Lenya return to the camp late at night and Leliana shortly after her. Neither of them said anything to anyone before going to the bed.

Aside from giving them orders Lenya did not speak with anyone. She seemed to avoid getting too close to Leliana though and Leliana made sure she did not intrude Lenya's personal space.

Alistair couldn't even begin to understand the qunari. First he had been against the trip to the Soldier's Peak, but now he was supporting it. All it had taken was Lenya to talk with him.

They also had gained personal merchant apparently. The dwarves, Bodahn and Sandal, were traveling with them. Lenya had given them permission to do that if they sold thing to them at discount. Bodahn had been more than happy to agree with her terms. He seemed to think that the safest place in Ferelden was with them. A crazy dwarf if Alistair had ever seen one.

Levi Dryden was also traveling with them. Lenya had not let him leave. She probably thought that the man would get eaten by rabbits, not to mention anything more dangerous beasts if she let him leave alone. She was probably right.

Their journey to Soldier's Peak would take a few weeks if nothing happen and he hoped that it would not be like this all the way. He might go crazy if no one talked for two weeks.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Translations for the Elven language in this chapter<strong>_

_**Durgen'len = Children of stone. What the Dalish call dwarves.**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that was chapter 6 and what in game goes as a first night at camp after Lothering. In game dialogs were again altered to suit the story better.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are welcome.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Chapter 7 is here. Lenya and her group started their way onto the Soldier's Peak.**

**Thank you all who have been reading this far. Special thanks to those who have reviewed, faved or alerted on Lenya's story. And again very special thanks to Faelan for support and encouragements.**

**Normal Disclaimer, Dragon Age and all you recognize belong to Bioware and all you don't belong to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, November 2013: Fixed grammar and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>Village of Honnleath<strong>

"Well, this explains why we haven't seen any villagers," Lenya said and pulled her sword out off the hurlocks chest, "And why the damn trader didn't want to come here with the rod."

"I doubt he actually knew that the darkspawn are here," Alistair said.

"Who knows with you shems," Lenya shrugged.

They had been traveling for two days when they had come across a trader that pretty much gave them a rod that he said was a control rod for a golem. Even though Lenya had been skeptic about the whole story she'd decided to check it out since they would walk past the village, where the golem was supposed to be, anyway. They would need only a slight detour to get there.

Leliana and Morrigan had supported her decision to go see if the story were true. Alistair had argued it was stupid waste of time and Sten had not said anything.

So, here they were in a village of Honnleath and it was overrun by the darkspawn. Lenya could sense more of them near, but couldn't tell what kind of darkspawn there was. Her sense had not developed that far yet. Even though Alistair kept saying that her progress was remarkable.

"Anything bigger than these?" Lenya asked from him.

"Nothing bigger than these and only one alpha hurlock. I do get a feeling from more underground, but can't say what they are unless we go down there as well," Alistair replied.

"Let's hope that's not necessary," Lenya shuddered. She did not like the idea that they might have to go underground, "Leliana," Lenya called the chantry woman. After their spat few days ago they had not been talking more than necessary. Leliana tried very hard not to offend her so she spoke very little with her.

"Yes, Lenya?" Leliana asked.

"There are more darkspawn ahead and they are lead by an alpha," Lenya explained, "Most likely accompanied with genlock archers. We need to take out those archers fast while Alistair has fun with the alpha and Sten keeps the rest of the melee spawns busy."

"Wouldn't it be better if you used your bow?" Leliana asked.

"I am not good enough with it to be any use in a fight. Hunting yes, but I keep getting distracted when I try to use it in battle," Lenya replied, "I know what I'm doing with these," She said and gave her sword and dagger a twirl. Both weapons radiated cold because of Morrigan's enchantment on them.

"It just seems really crazy that you run to the archers," Leliana said, her voice filled with worry.

"I know," Lenya grinned at her, "Isn't it exciting?"

"I wouldn't call it quite like that," Alistair said, "If you go and die I will be really annoyed," He added and readied his weapon. Lenya gave them all one look and they all nodded that they were ready.

"Mythal, protect us," Lenya said and then stepped in the view of the darkspawn. Creatures began to make noise and then they organized around the alpha. As she'd predicted there was archers with the spawn. Genlock and hurlock archers. Quick glance at the hurlock archers told her that they were using longer bows than genlocks so they would have longer range as well.

"Hurlock archers are using longbows," Lenya shouted and gracefully redirected an arrow with her sword. She ducked under the swing of the first hurlock reaching her and left them to Alistair and Sten.

Two of the hurlocks were already getting hit by Leliana's arrows and that distracted them enough so Lenya had almost danger free path to them. No matter what Lenya thought about Leliana's views towards the chantry, she could not deny the skill Leliana had with the bow. She rivaled the Dalish archers and that was incredible, for a shem.

After Lenya got to the archers, the fight was over in a few moments. Last genlock fell down, arrow in it's forehead. Alistair and sten were finishing their share of the spawn as well.

Lenya scanned the surroundings before wiping her sword and dagger clean and sheathing them.

"Anyone got hit?" Lenya asked and got three head shakes and stern 'No.' from Sten as an answer, "I still feel the taint in the area," Lenya continued then and Alistair nodded, "Underground?" She asked and sighed in defeat when he nodded.

"The golem is right there so we might not need to go underground at all," Leliana pointed out.

"I know, but somehow it doesn't feel right to leave the darkspawn alive," Lenya said, "And I wouldn't put it past them to start following us since I'm sure they've felt us here."

"She is right," Alistair agreed, "They might ambush us later if we leave them alive now."

"Underground it is then," Leliana sighed. She didn't look any happier than Lenya herself were, about the prospect of going underground.

"Should you at least try to wake the golem before we go inside?" Morrigan asked.

Lenya felt a bit stupid because of that and it didn't help at all that everyone were staring at her when she went to stand in front of the immobile golem and raised the control rod before speaking the phrase the trader had given them.

"Figures," Lenya muttered when the golem didn't show any signs of moving, "Either the damn thing is broken or I did something wrong."

"So, we go underground without the golem then?" Alistair asked.

"Seems so," Lenya sighed and then turned to talk to Leliana, "I hope you did not lie when you said that you know how to fight in melee because I doubt there is much room for using a bow down there."

"I did not lie," Leliana replied and unsheathed her daggers, "I am just not as good with these as I am with bow."

"I would be surprised if you were," Lenya shrugged, "Try not to get blood in your mouth."

"Why?" Leliana asked and then blushed when she noticed how stupid the question was.

"I see you found your answer already, but I'll humor you anyway," Lenya said, "Me and Alistair are immune to the taint so us swallowing some blood is not a problem. It's not very tasty I can assure you, but we are safe. Rest of you on the other hand are not safe from the taint and I don't know what it takes to get tainted, but if you do, I will kill you," There was no threat in her voice. She just stated the facts and even though Leliana paled, Morrigan looked indifferent, but also a bit paler and Alistair looked like he was about to get sick, she was not sure what Sten thought since his face was the usual stone wall, but non of them disagreed with her statement.

"Where do you feel the taint is strongest?" Lenya asked from Alistair when she was sure that everyone understood how serious the taint was and what she would do if someone got tainted.

"Near that collapsed tower," Alistair replied.

"Do you think that we can get down there by using that door?" Lenya asked and studied the door at the base of the ruins that had been the tower.

"Worth checking out," Alistair said and opened the door, "This room looks intact and the taint feels stronger inside so I'd guess this leads to the darkspawn."

"Ok, let's go inside then," Lenya said and took one more look at the sun before she entered the ruined tower.

* * *

><p>When the last darkspawn was dead Leliana thanked the Maker for Lenya and Alistair. Those two were like a force of nature when they fought the darkspawn. Lenya had been right and there was hardly room for her to use her bow, but smaller quarters also made the Wardens more deadly.<p>

Alistair tied as many of the darkspawn as he could and Lenya sliced them to pieces. Sten had to adopt a completely different style and stay a bit farther from the Wardens because his two-handed sword was not designed to be precise. He handled his sword with skill though and was more than able to handle his share of the darkspawn.

Leliana had decided that she could best serve the group by making sure that Morrigan was not attacked as she cast her spells. That had been a good choice since from now and then one or two darkspawn decided to try and take down the mage.

Leliana studied the large room they had just entered. Some kind of magic field was shimmering on the other side of it and the darkspawn had been trying to get through it. She saw people on the other side of it.

"Ugh! And again my hair is full of darkspawn blood," Leliana heard Lenya cursing and she turned to look at the elf. Lenya was right, her gorgeous red hair was nearly black from the blood.

"If you just stop cutting the heads off from them you might get less of it on your hair," Alistair pointed out.

"Right, and you are not covered in the stuff at all because you only cut hand off from that damn caster spawn, not it's head?" Lenya's voice was dripping sarcasm. Alistair was as covered on the darkspawn blood as Lenya was.

"Alright, cut the heads off from them if you like. I try to find river for you to wash yourself afterwards," Alistair said and lifted his hands up in defeat.

"Oh, thank the Maker! We are saved!" Man's voice carried to them from the other side of the magic field.

"Damnit!" Lenya cursed, "He just don't leave me alone and keeps stealing my deeds as his own."

"What?" The previously spoken man said looking puzzled.

"It is just really annoying that I kill all the damned darkspawn in the village with my group and do I get the thanks for it?" Lenya asked and she really did look annoyed, "No, of course I don't. Some invisible entity gets all the credits," She muttered and turned away from the man and the magic field. Obviously not caring a bit about them.

"I'm sorry, but my companion there has some issues with the Maker," Alistair said and Leliana noticed that he was trying not to laugh.

She heard Lenya mutter about Maker being a damn thief or something to that effect.

"Did the bann sent you to help us?" The man asked from Alistair.

"Not really," Alistair replied, "We heard of your village from a trader who had bought a golem control rod and who gave it to us. Lenya there wanted to come see if it could help us."

"Maker sent us!" Lenya shouted suddenly, "Oh the glory!" She added her voice dripping sarcasm. Then she focused on the man, "The rod doesn't seem to work when I say the control word."

"Oh, I see. You are here for Shale," The man said and sighed before he removed the magical barrier, "My mother must have given the wrong control word when she sold the rod. She didn't want to see Shale active ever again," He talked to Alistair since Lenya seemed to terrify him. Leliana did not blame the man.

"Why?" Alistair asked.

"It killed my father," The man said, "He served with Maric in the rebellion and what did he get for it. My mother found him in front of our house with so many broken bones that she barely could recognize him and Shale standing over him like it is now."

"The words," Lenya said and tapped the mans chest with her finger, "Do you know them?" She asked from the wild eyed man. Her patience was obviously shorter than usual. If Leliana had to guess it was because the villagers had thanked the Maker for their rescue.

"Y-yes... I know them," The man said, "But-but you have to do something for me first," He added and stepped hurriedly back when Lenya unsheathed her sword with one swift move and stopped the motion just before the blade would have cut the head off from the man.

"You don't think your life is enough payment for simple words?" Lenya asked and her eyes radiated fury. "The words... Now!" She commanded and cut a small wound into the mans neck.

"Please... My daughter! You must help her," The man said. It was obvious that he was ready to die instead of giving Lenya what she wanted.

"Oh, must I?" Lenya said, her voice had a dangerous edge on it and Leliana was afraid that she might just kill the man.

"It wouldn't hurt to hear him out," Alistair said.

"It might hurt him," Lenya said, but motioned Alistair to speak with the man. She did not remove the sword from the mans neck though.

Wide eyed man explained fast what he wanted them to do and promised the words as a reward if they did it.

No one said a word when the man stopped speaking. Everyone was waiting what Lenya would do. Then Abelas walked to her mistress and barked once. Lenya lowered her eyes to him and looked at him in the eyes. Then she sighed and sheathed her sword with the same fluid motion she'd unsheathed it, "We will get your daughter shem, but if you don't give me the words afterwards or they don't work. I will feed you to the darkspawn," Then she headed deeper into the cellars.

Everyone followed Lenya without a word. Understanding that now really was not the time to question her decisions or ask why she'd changed her mind. All though that was something Leliana herself would really want to know. What did Abelas had to do with it?

* * *

><p>"It's not bad," Lenya said and grimaced at Alistair. Her left side was bleeding from the cuts the demons claws had made at it. She was covering the wound with her hands so no one would be able to see how bad they were.<p>

"If it's not that bad then why are you grinding your teeth like that?" Leliana asked and moved her hands away from the wounds. She inhaled sharply when she saw the wounds, "This needs a bandage and at least one of the poultices," She said to Morrigan who nodded before giving Leliana what she'd asked.

Alistair stared Lenya and Leliana in shock. He knew that Lenya didn't like Leliana, but there she was letting her to tend her wounds and treat her like she was unruly child. He started to be certain that he would never understand women. Be they elves or humans.

They had managed to get past all the traps which seemed to summon demons to kill all those not of the blood of the mage Wilhelm. Which explained why the little girl had managed to get this far in without getting killed by them. They had to kill the things in order to get past, but the girl didn't even trigger them.

In the last room of the cellar complex they had found Amalia and a talking cat. Lenya had cursed as soon as she'd seen the cat and Abelas had started to growl. Then she'd talked with the cat and agreed to help it out and take the girl. Alistair had almost started to protest then, but something in the body language of Lenya and Abelas had held his tongue. Which appeared to be a good thing.

Lenya had disabled the device that kept the demon in the room and then told her that she'd only promised to let her out not let her live and then everything turned into a chaos. Amalia had run off and they had been attacked by multiple demons.

A desire demon had taken Lenya by surprise by it's swiftness and without Abelas she would have died. Now she only got claw marks on her side. Very deep claw marks, but not life threatening. After initial shock they had regrouped and made short work of the demons.

Lenya had fought like she had not been wounded at all, but after the fight was over she'd collapsed on the floor holding her side with her hands..

"What are you staring at, tinman?" Lenya asked suddenly, she sounded annoyed, and he realized that he'd been staring at Lenya all this time.

"Nothing," Alistair said quickly, "Absolutely nothing. Please don't hit me."

"As if I could get up to hit you now," Lenya muttered and gave annoyed look at Leliana who was applying healing poultice to the wounds now.

"Stop complaining and let me get this done," Leliana said as she gently applied the salve to Lenya's skin. "Unless you want to do it yourself of course?"

"No, no," Lenya said shaking her head and shiver seemed to ran through her, "I can't reach everywhere," She admitted.

"So stop complaining then and let me do this," Leliana said, her voice focused and serious.

"You sound just like the Keeper when you talk like that," Lenya said smiling and then her smile was replaced by sadness and she fell silent. Alistair understood. Same thing happened to him when his thoughts touched Duncan and the other Grey Wardens who had died at Ostagar.

Abelas sensed his mistresses sadness and pushed his large head so Lenya could scratch him. He was glad of the dogs presence, because he was the only one who's comforting Lenya accepted.

"There," Leliana said when she finished the bandaging. Lenya's middle section was completely covered with bandages, "I don't recommend any heavy activity for few days if that's possible."

"Let's hope darkspawn stay hidden then and that we don't get attacked by bandits," Lenya said and stood up. Wincing only a little, "Very nicely bandaged," She said to Leliana, "Thank you," She then added before turning to go. She was already out of the room when Leliana said, "You're welcome." Leliana had the most curious expression on her face. Like she was not sure what had just happen and that she liked it.

"We better follow her," Alistair said, "I want to be there in case the man backs down on his word and doesn't give the correct words to Lenya."

"You are fool if you think you can stop her from killing him if that happens," Morrigan said.

"Maybe, but I don't want her to kill him in front of her daughter," Alisitar said. In truth he would probably himself hurt the man badly if not out right kill him if he doesn't give the words. Lenya had been wounded because of him after all. Shiver ran through him when he thought how little it took to kill any of them and then Ferelden would be consumed by the Blight.

"Surely she would not harm the girls father when she's present," Leliana said.

"I don't know, Leliana," Alistair shook his head, "I just don't know her well enough. I do know that she doesn't like humans and humans who wrong her are probably lucky if she just kills them."

"She is a good woman," Leliana said with such conviction that Alistair almost believed her. He did not understand why Leliana, out of all the people, said things like that about Lenya. Lenya did not hide her dislike for Leliana or maybe it was just dislike towards Maker and the chantry not Leliana herself. Lenya had let her bandage her after all and you did not let people who you did not trust to do such things.

"I don't understand women," Alistair sighed and heard a low chuckle from Leliana and Morrigan.

* * *

><p>"Has it gotten tired of questions already?" Leliana heard the golem, Shale, ask from Lenya.<p>

"For now, Shale," Lenya nodded, "I will ask more questions later when we are out of this damnable village."

"I am quivering with excitement," Shale said, its voice dripping sarcasm.

"I knew you would just love the idea," Lenya laughed at it, "I can try to make you hug Alistair again if you prefer that instead of the questions."

"Hey!" Alistair protested. Lenya had actually told the golem to hug Alistair when it had wanted to test the rods powers.

"You are a cruel man, Alistair," Lenya said still laughing, "Doesn't want to give a huge pile of moving rock a hug. Doesn't it just look huggable?"

"I will squish its head like a melon if it tries to hug me," Shale promised.

"Don't be like that. Everyone needs a hug from now and then. Even Sten," Lenya said and got indignant grunt out of Sten.

"Does it like to be hugged then?" Shale asked.

"If the right person does it, yes, very much," Lenya replied.

"Must be all that squishiness that makes it so," Shale said, "But shall we leave this depressing village and its damnable birds?"

"Yes, we have a camp near here," Lenya said, "Unless it's looted by bandits or destroyed by darkspawn that is."

"Its positive view of the things moves me to tears," Shale said as they started to move out off the village.

Lenya looked happy even though she had been wounded and the wound had to pain her at least a little. Reason for her happiness was sheathed at her back. Dagger made out of silverite. She got it as an extra reward from Amalia's father, Mathias, because she'd returned Amalia to him unharmed and because she'd been wounded when doing a favor to him.

Lenya treated the dagger like it was her baby. She had real fascination for weapons. Specially swords. Only Sten seemed to understand that. Alistair had watched Lenya's enthusiastic study of the dagger for a while and then shook his head. Leliana herself appreciated a good weapon, but not as much as Lenya seemed to do. When you saw her use her weapons though, then you understood it. Lenya was a marvel to look at when she fought. Beauty, grace and elegance in one highly efficient form.

Leliana's thoughts made her stop and shake her head. What was she thinking? Why was she admiring Lenya's beauty so? It made no sense since Lenya hardly tolerated her and did not like the Maker or the chantry at all and on top of all that she didn't like humans.

It was hard not to admire her though. From the little Leliana had learned from Alistair, Lenya was not Grey Warden by choice. She had been recruited to save her life and according to Alistair she'd even thought that dying might just be the better option. He did not know what had made Lenya change her mind, but she had and now she was leading them. Three of them who belonged to the race Lenya despised, one qunari murderer and a mabari. Lenya said many spiteful things about humans, maker and chantry, but she was utterly loyal to her group at the same time. That fact was shown only when they had to fight though, but it was there.

"Where have you learned to treat wounds like that?" Someone asked bringing her back from her musing. She turned to look who had spoken and was almost shocked to find Lenya walking at her side now.

"People who were wounded or otherwise hurt came to the chantry from time to time and we treated them. Sister's found out I was good at it so they taught me more," Leliana replied after she recovered from the surprise Lenya coming to talk with her had caused. It was not a lie, but it was not the whole truth either. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you are so skilled at it," Lenya said, "I can hardly feel the wounds and that is rather exceptional since you did not use magic to heal me," She continued and then smirked at her, "Skill like that is not learned in a chantry though. Not unless your chantry in Lothering saw a lot of wounded soldiers and you bandaged them all, but you can keep your secrets," Leliana paled a little when Lenya said that. She should have known Lenya would notice. She was very observant after all.

"How did you know?" Leliana had to ask.

"Clan has to fight against shems from time to time. We try to avoid the fights and shems in general, but sometimes you shems just want to destroy the clan and punish the dangerous heathens we are. They hire mercenaries and such to attack us and then we kill them. Those of us who does the fighting know how to bandage wounds so they won't hinder our performance and the style you used to bandage my wounds is the same as the soldiers on the field use," Lenya explained.

Leliana almost missed the whole explanation because of the casual way Lenya talked about how humans tried to destroy her clan and how they just killed them. New wave of awe rose in her. There was something inspiring in the way how Dalish elves had chosen to live. They did not bow down to anyone and no matter how chantry told them to be heathens and dangerous vagrants you had to admire them.

"Does these attacks happen often?" Leliana asked.

"What do you think?" Lenya snorted, "If there is something you shems don't like it's an elf who dares to think that being free is a good thing," After that she left Leliana again. She did not go far though. Just far enough that talking to her was impossible.

"You didn't talk about chantry with her again?" Alistair asked and when Leliana shook her head he sighed in relief, "Good, I was afraid of that when I saw you two talking."

"She told that humans sometimes just attack her clan to destroy them, because they are viewed as heathens," Leliana said. Still shocked about the casualness of which Lenya had talked about it.

"According to the chantry they are almost as bad as darkspawn," Alistair said, "I believe in the Maker like any good Andrastian, but I think the chantry has twisted some things to suit its own needs and not of those of the Makers."

"You are a very odd templar, Alistair," Leliana said smiling. Alistair's view of the chantry mirrored her own in some ways.

"I'm very odd failed templar," Alistair corrected her, emphasizing the word failed, "I would like to ask you something though."

"What do you want to know?" Leliana asked.

"This vision of yours," Alistair said making her sigh.

"I knew this would come up sooner or later," Leliana sighed again, "I don't know how to explain this, but I had a dream..." She started and then explained her dream of the darkness to him. He looked skeptical, but then Leliana noticed something else. Lenya was listening to them. She didn't know how long she'd been near enough to hear her, but she assumed that she'd been there the whole time.

"So, it's just a dream. Why say it was a vision?" Alistair asked.

"I have had a dreams. This was different... somehow," Leliana replied and continued to explain about the rose in the dead rose bush in the chantry's gardens. She was talking to Alistair, but her eyes were on Lenya because of what she was about to say wouldn't go down well with her, "It was as though the Maker stretched out His hand to say. _'Even in the midst of this darkness, there is hope and beauty, Have faith.'_"

Leliana heard Lenya mutter that she didn't need her Maker to intervene on her life, "It is not your life he's guiding, Lenya, but mine," Leliana pointed out.

"Let's hope it stays that way," Lenya muttered back at her and she had to smile in spite of everything.

"There are so many good things in the Maker's world. How can I sit by while the Blight devours... everything?" Leliana asked.

"I suppose I couldn't sit by either," Alistair said and Lenya snorted, "What?" He asked indignantly.

"You're a Grey Warden, sitting by is not in the contract you agreed, no matter if you liked it or not," Lenya said and then she smirked, "It's in your blood."

"I know that," Alistair said looking hurt, "And it's not what I meant anyway."

"I know that, Tinman," Lenya said smiling amused.

"Tinman?" Leliana had heard Lenya calling Alistair that few times, but never quite understood why.

"Well, he is encased on all that metal and even if it's not made out of tin, it suits him better than metalman or ironman," Lenya shrugged.

"But isn't tin quite soft metal?" Leliana asked.

"Yes, but Alistair is a bit of an softy and if you don't believe me go ask Shale. I'm sure it has an opinion about how soft he is," Lenya said smiling.

"I still have not forgiven you for the 'Ok, hug Alistair.' part," Alistair muttered, "What if it had done it?"

"Then it would have hugged you," Lenya shrugged, "Because that would have meant that the rod works."

"It could have killed me," Alistair protested.

"It could have killed all of us if it likes, but then again so could any of you if you suddenly feel like it," Lenya said, "Shale is made of stone, but it is no less our companion than either of you."

"I get it," Alistair sighed, "I still didn't like it that you wanted it to hug me."

"I'm sure Shale didn't like the idea any more than you did," Leliana pointed out and lifted her eyes, "Ah, we are back at camp and it seems to be intact and not overrun by darkspawn."

"Day is young still," Lenya said, "But I don't think we need to worry about darkspawn at the moment. I can't feel anything tainted nearby."

"Neither can I," Alistair agreed.

"Should we rest now and continue tomorrow?" Leliana asked and studied Lenya. She saw that the Lenya was trying to hide it that her side was aching. She hid it well, but it was reflected in her movements if you knew what to look for.

"That sounds like a good idea," Alistair said, "You got a nasty wound from the demon after all," He said and turned to talk to Lenya. Leliana winced, that would not go well with their leader. Lenya was proud and pointing out that she might not be able to continue was a bad idea. As she expected she saw Lenya's face harden.

"I'm fine," Lenya snarled angrily, "We can stay here rest of the day and continue tomorrow, but don't think it's because I got wounded," She says and left them standing there, at the edge of their camp.

"What did I do wrong now?" Alistair asked puzzled.

"You implied that she's weak," Leliana replied, "You should know by now that she is a proud woman and saying that she might be weak is possibly as bad as going to tell her that she might be doing the Makers work," Leliana explained.

"I don't think that she's weak!" Alistair exclaimed and horrified look passed on his face, "She is strongest woman I've ever met and that includes all the revered mothers combined."

"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that you said it would be a good idea to rest because she is wounded. Implying that we can't continue our journey because she is wounded. You wouldn't like it either if the roles were reversed, but there is difference between you and her."

"She is prouder and stronger and more terrifying than I am and I might complain if she would order us to rest because of me, but I would do it," Alistair said.

"Good, Alistair," Leliana smiled at him, "Now lets go and see what she's tearing apart, if anything,"

"Maybe it's Morrigan," Alistair said looking hopeful.

"I doubt it since she's on her own fire already," Leliana nodded at the direction of the smaller fire at the edge of the camp.

"Damn, I can't catch a break," Alistair muttered and she grinned at him as they walked to the camp.

* * *

><p>Lenya was seething again. How did Alistair dare to suggest that she was weak? - She thought - Stupid shem. She'd decided that they would remain here to the next morning before Leliana said anything and even she had, had enough brains to not go and suggest they should do it because of her injury.<p>

And then the damned tinman goes and looks at her like she was some cursed shemlen damsel in distress in need of coddling.

Abelas let out a quiet whine and was looking at her with his head tilted, "No, I'm not mad at you," She assured him, speaking elvish, "I'm mad at the tinman."

Abelas tilted his head to other side and lets out another whine, "He thinks I'm weak and that I need to be coddled just because I got wounded."

Abelas whined again and then touched her wounded side with his nose, "Yes, it is aching a little, but it's not that bad," Abelas let out a quiet bark, "No, not the reason why I was going to order the rest here," Another set of quiet barks and whines, "Yes, that is why. We all need a rest after the fighting in the village," Short growl now, "Oh, you're not tired at all?" Happy bark, "Liar," Indignant snort, "Ready to go and take on the archdemon are you?" She asked and got enthusiastic bark as an answer, but then Abelas tilted his head again and let out a short bark, "I'm glad you decided to stay with me instead of going after the archdemon," Abelas licked her hand gently and whined again, "Yes, my sorrow, your presence is soothing me," She said smiling a little and ruffled his fur.

"How do you understand what he wants to say?" Leliana's voice asked cautiously.

"I don't know," Lenya replied, "I just do. Just like he just understand what I want to say to him even when I talk elvish with him."

"You named him sorrow, why?" Leliana asked and her voice still had that cautious tone in it.

"Because he is my sorrow," Lenya replied and then lifted her eyes to Leliana's, "You understand elvish?"

"Only few words," Leliana said, "I know what ma serannas means and dar'eth shiral and lethallin."

"I'm impressed that any shem knows even that much," Lenya said and she was truly impressed.

"Ma serannas, lethalin," Leliana said little uncertainly. Her pronouncing was terrible, but she was unmistakably speaking elvish. Even if it was just something simple as thank you.

"Your elvish is horrible though and lethallin is used when spoken to a male. When you talk to a woman the correct word is lethallan and you also don't use it unless you are speaking to a very close friend or kin," Lenya said, not quite knowing what else to say. Even though Leliana's elvish was horrible and she was a shem, it was good to hear her own language again, "Ma serannas," She then said before leaving to her tent.

* * *

><p>Leliana stared after Lenya in shock. After those elvish words had escaped from her mouth she had been sure Lenya would be offended. She had not meant to say them, but it just had happen anyway.<p>

What she had not been expecting was that Lenya not only thanked her, but also corrected her where she had been wrong. She had to admit that Lenya was right about her elvish though. Compared to Lenya speaking it she sounded horrible.

Still shaking her head she headed to her tent. It was Alistair's and Sten's watch so she could try to get some sleep in store, even though it wasn't still late.

* * *

><p><strong>Translations for Elven language used in this Chapter:<strong>

_**Dar'eth shiral = Have a safe journey**_

_**Ma Serannas, Lethallin/Lethallan = Thank you, friend. (lethallin for male and lethallan for female friend)**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Chapter 7 done. As those who have played the game may have noticed I did move Honnleath a bit so it's on their way as they travel to Soldier's Peak. Shale is usually what I go do first as I play the game, but in order to get that to fit the story at this point Honnleath had to be moved to closer to roads.**

**Thank you for reading this far and I hope you have enjoyed the story. Reviews are always welcome.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Chapter 8 is here. Group has arrived to the Soldiers Peak. I am quite happy that I got this done even with ToR early access and all the Christmas hassle going on.**

**Thank you everyone who keeps reading Lenya's story. Special thanks to those who reviewed, Alerted and faved. Very special thanks again to Faelan, your support is invaluable my dear friend.**

**Bioware owns Dragon Age and everything you recognize. Anything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, November 2013: Fixed grammar and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>Soldiers Peak Fortress<strong>

Levi had fulfilled his end of the deal and they got through the caves without getting lost and were now standing just outside the Soldiers Peak fortress. It was very impressive building, Lenya had to admit that. It also felt wrong. Like the ruins where she'd found the mirror with Tamlen. Only, it was much, much stronger here.

She glanced at her companions and noticed that she was not the only one who felt it. Alistair and Leliana looked uneasy, Morrigan seemed to be on edge somehow. Even Sten was slipping from his normally stoic appearance. Only one who was not affected was Shale. If you didn't mind the threats it was throwing at the ravens that seemed to inhabit to the area.

"Beyond is close here," Lenya said and a shiver ran through her. It was not just the cold air in here. Which was a bit unpleasant, since she was still wearing her summer armor. She would need to get a better one soon. She might even agree to wear full armor, but she'd be damned if she'd admit that to Alistair.

"I agree," Morrigan nodded at her, "I can sense it."

"Look at that!" Levi said, apparently completely oblivious of the uneasy feeling the rest of them were getting, "What a fortress!"

"You better stay behind us or I can't guarantee you will be getting out off here alive," Lenya said to Levi who paled and then just nodded at her, "Let's go then. Creepy old Grey Warden fortress is waiting," She said and headed to the gate leading inside the fortress.

* * *

><p>"I hate demons," Lenya said after what was left of Sophia Dryden died. Her dagger was buried between Sophia's eyes. Coldness of it's enchantment started to frost the bone and rotten flesh around it.<p>

"Can't say I like them much either," Alistair said and dropped to his knee, so he could study the armor Sophia was wearing. What ever it was made of, was damn durable, "Full Grey Warden Commanders armor made out of silverite," Alistair whistled after he'd studied the armor a while, "It's enchanted too," He added and pointed the few runes in it.

"We can take it with us and sell it, but there's no use dragging it with us at the moment," Lenya said.

"We can't sell it," Alistair said, looking almost horrified, "Do you understand how well made this is?"

"I do, but it's too small for you," Lenya said and started to study the papers and books on Sophia's desk. Sophia had been a big woman, but Alistair was bigger, so unless they could get silverite from somewhere there was no way they could make it fit him properly. Leliana saw a solution, but it was no use to go and tell Lenya that, so she waved at Alistair.

"What?" Alistair asked when he got to her.

"That armor, we could get it refitted for her," Leliana nodded towards Lenya.

"She just says no," Alistair shook his head and sighed.

"I didn't plan on telling her about it until it's done," Leliana smiled, "She needs a better armor and that one is very well crafted," That was true, Lenya's current armor, while very well made started to show wear and it didn't protect her enough. Even now Lenya had bleeding cuts on her skin. They were not life threatening, but they were there.

"How in the name of the Maker you think we can keep it a secret?" Alistair asked, "And do you know any master smiths who would work on very little pay?" He asked before Leliana had time to answer his first question.

"I've not got that far yet, but give me a little time and I can come up with an solution," Leliana smiled at him.

"Why I am surrounded with women, who are so damn mysterious all the time?" Alistair asked and sighed deeply.

"Because we are women and all women are mysterious," Leliana replied making Alistair sigh again.

"Alistair!" Lenya called Alistair then, "Look at these," She waved something in her hand.

"I better go," Alistair said and went to Lenya and together they leaned over to study whatever Lenya had found.

"I heard what you said, my lady," Levi said, "About the armor and refitting it to your leader."

"Yes?" Leliana lifted her brow.

"My brother Mikhail is a master smith and after all the help the Wardens have given to our family, I can get him to refit it to her with no charge," Levi said.

"We have not yet done anything for you, Levi," Leliana pointed out.

"Of course you have," Levi said, "No matter what we find from here, you have done me and my family a great service."

"Can he do it without measuring her?" Leliana asked. She was fairly sure of it, since most armors where made to fit to all and adjusted with straps, so if this Mikhail could refit the armor to fit an female elf, there would be no problem to make it fit Lenya.

"That you would have to ask him," Levi said, "I know nothing of smithing."

"When we are done here, we will talk more," Leliana said.

"As you wish, my lady," Levi said.

Leliana smiled to herself. She had been sure she could arrange everything with the armor, but sometimes Maker did smile on you and gave you what you needed.

"What are they studying?" Leliana asked from Morrigan who had been studying the papers before Alistair had joined Lenya.

"Some Grey Warden information that could be useful to them," Morrigan replied, "And Sophia Dryden's journal," She added and turned her golden eyes towards Levi who paled. Leliana did not blame the man. Morrigan could be really intimidating without even trying. Smirk on the witches lips told her that she knew it as well.

"I... I better... I better go see what's in that," Levi said nervously and went to talk to the Wardens.

"Was that necessary, Morrigan?" Leliana asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Morrigan said innocently. That smirk did not leave her lips though.

"You know very well what I mean," Leliana said bit angrily. Morrigan must be a test from the Maker himself, here to test Leliana's patience. She rarely spoke with any other members of their group except Lenya and if she did spoke with others her words were biting.

"'Twas not I who did anything. 'Twas the simpleton himself," Morrigan said and left before Leliana had time to say anything else.

Leliana didn't understand how Lenya could trust Morrigan, but she did. Only comforting thing was that Leliana was not alone in her lack of understanding. Alistair was even more suspicious than she herself was.

"It doesn't look very promising, Levi," Lenya's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "Her journal alone is quite condemning and then there's these flashbacks we keep getting," Lenya continued, "All these strongly suggest that after Sophia rose to the position of the Warden Commander, she started to move Wardens against this King Arlan, who I think sounds despicable, but then again he was a shem in power so not sure what else you could expect."

"Some wrongs just can't be ignored," Levi said.

"You shems are damn good at ignoring the wrongs, until it's you personally that it affects," Lenya snorted, "Point in this is that Wardens are supposed to be neutral and not get involved in any fights with kings and nobles and such. Sophia broke that neutrality."

"How is that different on what you are doing with Loghain?" Levi asked.

"Well, first of all we are not fighting against him," Lenya replied and her eyes started to shine, "We are fighting the archdemon and the Blight and he just happen to stand between us and what we need to do. He can dislike and call us traitors and even put bounties on our heads, but nothing he does, stops me from defending what is important to me. If he tries to stop me from ending the Blight, he dies," A chill went through Leliana as she listened Lenya speak. Lenya might be an elf, who most humans would think of being a second class citizens and she might be young, but she had the charisma of a leader and her whole presence demanded respect.

Alistair stared at Lenya with an awed expression on his face. Leliana was sure he had never seen his fellow Warden like this before.

"You lead a lot harsher life than I," Levi said with his eyes wide with respect.

"Maybe," Lenya shrugged, "Let's go up to that damn tower and see what we can find from there," She then added and left the room.

Alistair came to her after Lenya had left, "That armor belongs to her," He said and that awed expression still lingered on his features.

"I agree," Leliana nodded and then they followed Lenya.

* * *

><p>Another flashback left Lenya blinking. It was the mage who had summoned the demons. He had been conducting experiments on Wardens here and created something.<p>

Lenya turned her head and studied the potion on the table. Instructions were written near it. Not sure why anyone would see the need to write so long instructions though, since all you really needed to know was that the potion was meant for drinking.

"You are not really thinking about drinking it?" Alistair asked nervously, "There's no telling what it'll do to you."

"It should unlock the power in our tainted blood," Lenya replied and she really was about to drink the thing. Not because of the power it promised though. It was the feeling again, that this was something she was meant to do.

Without a further delay she opened the seal of the potion and lifted it on her lips. Only faintly hearing Alistair yelling "NO!" It was too late for him to stop her though and she drank the potion with one gulp.

It tasted as vile as the blood she'd drank at the joining, but it also gave her tingling sensation in her mouth. Then the pain shot through her and she doubled over. It was nothing like the pain at the Joining and she could easily bear it. Then she felt it. New power running through her, an new understanding of the taint.

"Ugh, that tasted horrible," Lenya said as Leliana and Alistair tried to help her stand up.

"Don't you ever do something like that again!" Alistair admonished her, "I can't do this alone."

"You don't understand," Lenya tried to explain, "I had to do that."

"I never thought you would be after power," Alistair said not even trying to hide hid contempt.

Lenya let out a soft chuckle. Of course Alistair would think that she did that in order to get power, "I did not do that to gain power," She shook her head slightly.

"Why else would you do it?" Alistair asked and the contempt was still in his voice.

"All my life..." Lenya started and fought against the urge to shut up and not reveal her secret, but he did deserve to know, "All my life I've been having these feelings. Feelings that tell me what I should do. At first I did not follow them, because that would have just been silly, but then I found out that if I did not follow them someone would suffer. Not me though, suffering always happen to others."

"And you had this feeling now with the potion?" Leliana asked and Lenya nodded, "And if you would have not drank it someone else would have paid the price for it?" Lenya nodded again, "Do you know who?" Leliana asked.

"This time?" Lenya asked back and then shook her head, "No, I very rarely do. Only when my acting right away saves someone, I know who will suffer if I don't act. But even then the reason for the feeling might not be to save that person there, but instead it might lead up that person to save someone else, much later," She tried to explain, "It drives me nuts if I keep thinking about it too much."

"I can understand that," Leliana smiled, "Can you stand?"

"I think I can. The pain has subsided already," Lenya replied and stretched her muscles, "Going to say anything or are you going to continue pouting?" She asked from Alistair who was looking at her with unreadable expression on his face.

"You had that feeling when you talked with Sten, when he was in his cage, didn't you?" Alistair asked then and Lenya nodded, "Also at the bridge to the Tower of Ishal, when you tackled me and saved my life so the statue would not crush me?" She kind of had hoped he'd forgot that one, but of course he had not. Reluctantly she nodded.

"I also got a feeling that Loghain was not to be trusted, but aside from telling Duncan that there was nothing I could do," Lenya said bitterly, "It's pointless to continue talking about this and it usually makes me crazy."

"And we would not want that," Alistair said with straight face.

Lenya gave him a wicked grin, "No, you would not want that."

* * *

><p>Last of the demons fell and the silence fell in to the room. Lenya twirled her sword and sheathed it. When she had seen the desire demon appearing, her whole demeanor had changed and she'd pretty much challenged the demon to the duel. She had dodged the claws and the spells and hacked the thing to pieces.<p>

Alistair had not been able to help Lenya without risking hitting her as well. Morrigan and Leliana were the only ones who had been able to help her. Rest of the group had been left to deal with the lesser demons.

"Stupid harpy!" Lenya cursed.

"Are you hurt?" Alistair asked worriedly.

"That cursed thing almost singed my hair!" Lenya said and pulled her fingers through her red hair, "I mean I am reasonable with the darkspawn and their black blood messing with it. Sure it sucks to wash it off, but at least it's intact after it, but that damn thing tried to burn it. For that alone I would like to bring it back and kill it again and again."

"So the Wardens have come to this?" The old mage, Avernus, said, "Young man who don't have the will to do what needs to be done and an elf who worries over her hair."

There was a flash of silverite and then Lenya's dagger was buried next to Avernus's head and her sword was at his throat, "Just because I like my hair, it doesn't mean I'm all girly and don't have what it takes to sever your head from your shoulders, old man," She said and then continued, "What you have done here is wrong. Justified yes, but wrong nonetheless. If I were you, I'd think long and hard what you say about me or my fellow Warden. Yes we are new Wardens, but I'll be damned if I let some old man come and tell me in condescending tones that we might not be proper Wardens."

"So, what will you decide? Will you let me continue my research?" Avernus asked. His tone was now respectful.

"Your research of the taint could be invaluable to the Wardens, so I let you continue it, but without the sacrifices and if you even glare at me wrongly because of that, I cut your head off and let Shale stomp you to a fine paste," Lenya pulled her dagger from the wall and sheathed her weapons before leaving them standing there. She went to talk to Morrigan.

Avernus was not happy about the decision, but wisely remained silent. Alistair was not happy either though, but like Avernus he wisely remained silent. He would have wanted the man executed.

"Quite spirited woman that," Avernus said to him.

"Shut up," Alistair said, but the old man just smiled at him.

"Old man," Morrigan said to Avernus and walked to them, "Lenya wants to know if there is a way to prevent the tainting."

Avernus did not answer right away, but he looked thoughtful, "She wants to know if I know a way to prevent those of you who aren't Wardens to becoming tainted?" He asked.

"Yes and if there is a way she wants you to teach it to me," Morrigan said.

"Why you?" Alistair asked suspiciously.

"Because she's the only mage in your group and your leader knows that if there is a way to prevent the tainting it will be through magic," Avernus said.

"Is there a way then?" Alistair wanted to know.

"There is a potion that prevents the tainting, if you take it before you get exposed to the taint. Like just before fight against the darkspawn or when you find that you need to venture to the Deep Roads. It does not heal the taint if it's already present," Avernus explained. Potion like that would be invaluable to them, because he knew they would be fighting against the darkspawn a lot.

"There must be a catch or that would be known everywhere," Alistair said suspiciously.

"Of course there is. First of all it does need a mage to make it and the chantry really doesn't like it if mages become too important," Avernus said. His voice had the same tone as Lenya had when she talked about the chantry, "It also needs lyrium as one of its ingredients and the chantry controls it's trade as well."

"Doesn't it make it addictive if it has lyrium in it?" Alistair asked.

"No because the lyrium is used when making it. It's not there in a same form as it is on lyrium potions we mages use," Avernus explained.

"You'll teach me how to make this potion," Morrigan said.

"As you wish," Avernus said and then the two of them glanced at Alistair and moved away so he could not hear.

Alistair shrugged and went to Lenya, who was talking with Levi. He felt sorry for the man. Instead of finding his great great grandmother being a hero, he had found out that she had been consorting with blood mages and demons.

"Ah, Alistair," Lenya said when she noticed him, "Levi wants to come here with his family and make the keep his trading post or something like that."

"Not the whole keep, my lady," Levi shook his head, "Only some rooms to store our goods and some rooms to live in."

"As a caregivers of sorts?" Alistair asked.

"I guess you could call it that," Levi nodded, "You of course would get discounts of all you buy," He added then.

"What do you think?" Lenya asked Alistair. Surprising him completely.

"I... I think it's good idea. We can't stay here to run the keep, so having someone living here would be a good thing," Alistair said, "I'd stay away from Avernus though."

"He will not do anything he shouldn't, but I agree on that," Lenya said, "Okay, Levi, you can bring your family here and use some of the rooms. I think it might take some time before we can bring more Wardens here," She then said to Levi. She was right. So far they had not found any information about how to do the Joining or even how to kill the archdemon. Avernus didn't know either, from the little Lenya had, had time to ask him before they started to mend the veil.

"Thank you Wardens," Levi said and bowed to them, "You will not regret this," He added excitedly and then he left.

"Lenya!" Leliana yelled and almost ran to them, "The clues pointed to a hidden chest and look what was in it," She offered a sword to Lenya. Sword with matte black blade.

Lenya took the blade and studied it a long while. Testing it's balance and how it felt on her hand as she did few practice forms with it, "Very nice sword, but it's not for me," She said finally and offered it to him. She must have noticed the puzzled expression on his face because she started to explain, "It's perfectly balanced and handles really well, but it feels wrong when I dual wield."

"You mean it's meant for someone who uses a shield?" Alistair asked and Lenya nodded. Hesitating only a little Alistair wrapped his hand around the hilt of the sword and lifted it in front of his eyes. He started to understand the fascination Lenya had for swords when he held this sword in his hand. It felt right.

"We might be able to get Sandal to enchant it from the runes we found," Lenya said, "And we really need to start thinking of getting enchantments to our armors as well."

"Like something that prevents hairs getting burned?" Leliana asked smiling.

"Sounds like a damn good reason," Lenya said, "I do need to find myself a new armor though. There's no use to enchant this," She said and looked down on her armor, "We might need to go find a Dalish clan though, in order to find me an armor that fits. You shems really don't like to give armor or weapons to us dangerous elves."

Alistair saw Leliana looking at him and winking at him. So she had managed to find a solution to the Grey Warden Commander's armor problem.

"We can talk about that when we have eaten," Alistair said.

* * *

><p>They had made their camp close to the cave entrance that led to the keep. Even though the veil had been mended and the keep was free of the demons, Lenya had not wanted to stay there. Sleeping inside a building made out of stone made her feel uneasy.<p>

No one had resisted when she'd ordered them to return to the camp. Although Alistair and Leliana had stayed behind to do something with Levi. They had also talked her to leave the gorgeous Warden Commander's armor to Levi so he could sell it on their behalf or something.

Both of them had appeared just before the food was ready. While they ate, the conversation had circled around the keep and the events there. Most of them disagreed with Lenya's decision to leave Avernus alive, but after Morrigan had told Lenya that she now knew how to protect the none-Wardens in their group, Lenya knew she'd done the right thing.

Now Lenya was sitting on the edge of the clearing they used as their camp and turned an amulet in her hands. Merrill had given it to her at her last birthday. It was simple, clear crystal that Merrill had shaped with her magic to look like a heart. In the right light it's center seemed to glow with soft red light.

Lenya had been thinking of Merrill more and more these days. Despite having people around her all the time, Lenya felt that she was alone. None of them understood her like Merrill had. Merrill might have rambled and stumbled on her words when she had tried to talk to Lenya or she had talked so fast that her words had become one really long word. Lenya had often teased Merrill about it, said that she would need to learn to breath or she would faint someday.

"I miss you, Merrill," Lenya whispered softly and lifted the amulet in front of her eyes. It moved slowly and the light from the setting sun was reflected inside it. Revealing the faint red glow within. They had always known it would be hard for them to be together because of Merrill's status as a first, but it had never even crossed Lenya's mind, that the chance to even try might be taken away from her like this.

Low whine told her that Abelas had sensed her mood again and had come to comfort her, "I'm alright," Lenya said to him, "This is something you can't help me with, but thank you my friend," She added and scratched him behind his ears with her free hand. Eyes still focused on the amulet.

* * *

><p>After they had eaten Leliana had watched Lenya leave the camp and go to sit at the edge of the clearing. Lenya did that often, but now she seemed sadder somehow. Leliana also felt that it was not just her clan Lenya was missing.<p>

Leliana had seen Lenya looking at the beautiful crystal amulet, when she thought no one was watching. That had to be a gift from someone important. Loved one perhaps. No one in the camp knew what Lenya had actually been forced to leave behind. Her clan yes, but what else.

Asking about it was most likely futile. Lenya would not feel comfortable of talking about such things with humans. Not even to Alistair, who she treated with more respect than other humans because of their shared Wardenhood.

Leliana hoped that Lenya's sadness had nothing to do with the fact that she and Alistair had both disagreed strongly about leaving Avernus alive. Even Sten had disagreed, but he didn't seem to like mages in general.

That had been before they had learned that Lenya had made the old mage teach Morrigan how to keep them all safe from the taint. Alistair had blushed from shame, that he had not even thought about the others. Even after what Lenya had promised in Honnleath. Alistair had told Leliana, that he had not wanted to think about it and that he had been ashamed about the fact that he'd been glad that Lenya had made the promise to kill them if they got tainted. Sparing him of the responsibility.

Responsibility of the leader weighed heavily on Lenya and she took it very seriously. Concern about her companions safety from taint was just one sign of that. Leliana had not known Lenya more than few weeks, but she had started to respect her tremendously.

Without even thinking she got up and walked towards Lenya. She did not get even halfway, when Lenya's posture changed and she put, what she had been watching, away.

"What do you want, Leliana?" Lenya asked without turning to see who was approaching.

"I... I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk about something," Leliana said stumbling in her words a bit. She had been trained to move through situations smoothly, but no matter her training, Lenya made her feel insecure.

"If I'd want that, I would have done so," Lenya said, "Want to tell me again how it was wrong to spare Avernus's life?" She asked then.

"No, nothing like that," Leliana said and shook her head even though Lenya did not see her, "You were right to spare him."

"Liar. You still think that the Maker wants him dead or something," Lenya snorted, "It was not right to spare him, but it was necessary," She added then, "I don't apologize for it and I bear the consequences of that. Not you or your Maker and certainly not Alistair."

"I know," Leliana sighed, "It was wrong of us to say those things to you."

Lenya sighed, "No it wasn't wrong. I don't expect you all to agree with me all the time. It would be hardly fair, because I really don't like the chantry. If I'd expect you to agree me on the chantry thing, just because I am the leader of our group of crazy people, I would not be any better than this chantry of yours is."

"Chantry..." Leliana started, but stopped before she could continue. She was again about to start defending the chantry and that would just drive Lenya away, before she had time to talk more of what seemed to bother Lenya, "What were you looking at there?" She asked instead and gave a mental slap to herself because of it. She should be better at this and not to charge at things like a mabari.

Lenya's posture tensed at first, but then she sighed and she lifted, a beautiful heart shaped crystal amulet, so Leliana could see it. It seemed to glow soft reddish light, "That is beautiful," Leliana said awed. It was grave understatement. The amulet was breathtaking.

"Thank you," Lenya said with low soft voice, "Merrill gave it to me on my last birthday," She continued, "She risked a great deal to get it done. Keeper would have yelled her for hours if she'd found out that she had been using her magic on such trivial thing."

Leliana held her breath in fear of breaking the spell Lenya seemed to be under as she continued to speak and absentmindedly scratched Abelas's ears. Abelas in turn watched Leliana herself and she could have sworn that there was gratitude in his eyes.

"Clan would have not approved our relationship. Merrill was the First after all and she should devout her time to studying the history and prepare to become a keeper someday and only after becoming the keeper probably find a suitable mate," Lenya continued, "We didn't care about it though. Most of the clan thought I was going to end up with Tamlen anyway. I think the keeper knew about us though, but if she did, she didn't say anything."

"You loved her very much?" Leliana dared to ask.

"I still do," Lenya replied softly, "She had this habit of rambling and it was so adorable that I could not help falling in love with her," She added and then she glanced at Leliana and smiled a little, "You remind me of her when you stumble over your words when you try to speak to me," She said and Leliana could feel the blush spreading on her cheeks, "Aww, you're blushing," Lenya chuckled at her, "You're as bad as Alistair. I can't say a word to him without making him red as a tomato," Then she got up, "Ma seranas, Leliana," She said without looking at her and then she left.

Leliana stared after her in shock. She'd just had a conversation with Lenya about things that were very personal to her. She couldn't believe it. Without thinking she got up and headed to the forest. She needed to think.

* * *

><p>Alistair watched how the two women disappeared to the forest one by one. He hoped it wasn't something bad like that had been discussing chantry. He also hoped Leliana had not gone there to blame Lenya about Avernus again.<p>

Lenya had decided that they were going to the Circle next because it was close to the Peak. This time she had not even asked him and he was glad about it. Lenya was so much better leader than he ever could hope to be and if she started to share the leadership, he might do something stupid. Like totally miss out the potential solution to their companions danger to become tainted.

Yes, Avernus would have deserved to die for what he'd done, but he could not fault Lenya for sparing him. Not anymore. They now had means to protect those, who were not Wardens, from the taint. He was sure that getting lyrium from the Circle was also one reason why they were now going there. Morrigan had, had only little lyrium dust for her lyrium potions so she can't make enough of the protection potion to everyone. Lenya had decided that she should not make it to anyone until they had enough materials for everyone. Morrigan had grumbled about that a bit, but she had not challenged Lenya's decision.

Getting put down by Lenya was almost worth it when she did that to Morrigan as well. Almost. Alistair didn't understand how she could command such authority when she was so much smaller than any of those who traveled with her, but she did and even Avernus, centuries old blood mage, had submitted to her will. She was born to lead, that was obvious.

"Hopefully the chantry wench did not try to preach her again," Morrigan said when she came to get more food. Alistiar ignored her or tried to at least. It was hard to ignore Morrigan if she wanted to say something to you, "I have a wonder, Alistair, if you will indulge me."

"Do I have a choice?" Alistair asked.

"Of the two of you that remain, are you not the senior Grey Warden?" Morrigan asked and gave him a curious look, "I find it curious that you allow another to lead, while you follow," She added and Alistair cursed her into the fade.

"You find that curious, do you?" Alistair asked despite himself. He just could not stay quiet when it came to Morrigan. Something in the witch just made him want to argue with her.

"In fact, you defer to a new recruit. Is this a policy of the Grey Wardens? Or simply a personal one?" Morrigan asked then.

"What do you want to hear? That I prefer to follow? I do," Alistair retorted almost angrily.

"You sound so very defensive," Morrigan chuckled at him.

"Could you crawl into a bush somewhere and die? That would be great, thanks." Alistair said and Morrigan left, leaving only amused laughter behind her, "I hate her," He muttered and continued staring into the fire.

He should go to sleep. There was still hours for his guard shift and it was sure that Lenya would make them leave early on the next morning.

Instead of doing that he started to think about the potion lenya had drunk. What did that do to her? Even though Lenya had explained why she did what she did, he did not trust that it was safe.

Angrily he shook his head and headed to his tent.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Soldiers Peak done and Lenya had managed to find protection to non wardens in her group. I took the potion that prevents the tainting from the book The Calling. Avernus seemed to be as good place as any for the group to learn about it. Powers Lenya gains from the Avernus's potion will be different than what warriors usually gain from it in the game. Both of those powers seem extremely silly so you can expect something else to manifest during the story.**

**I am not certain I can get next chapter done before next weekend, with holidays coming and all that, but I will try. If not at the weekend then soon after it. I wish you all Merry Christmas.**

**I hope you have enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are always welcome.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Chapter 9 is here. Lenya and the companions has left the Soldiers Peak behind and are heading to the Circle tower. And in the real world we have left the Christmas bustle behind us and I can hopefully return to the once a week updates. Also hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and not feeling too tired from all the New Year parties.**

**Thank you all who have been reading this far. Special thanks to favers and alerters and Very special thanks to reviewers. Extra special thanks to Faelan for her continued support on all my writing endeavors.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Everything you don't recognize belong to me and Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, November 2013: Fixed grammar and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>On the road<strong>

It had been an interesting journey to the Circle tower. A quite remarkable storm had forced them to seek a shelter from it and they had ended up being stuck, in an abandoned shed, for a two whole days. Lenya thought that It was rather remarkable that she had not killed them all by the time the storm had passed.

Alistair and Morrigan seemed to have found a completely new level in their insults to each other and while they were trapped in a small barn it was enough to drive Lenya crazy. Finally she had threatened to throw both of them outside.

And then, when she got those two to shut up, Sten had decided to come tell her that she couldn't be a woman. That conversation had been one of the weirdest she'd ever had and that included the conversation with Tamlen after they had stole some herbs from the keeper and ate them which had resulted in some nice hallucinations. Talking with things that flew around your head is bound to be weird.

Only ones who had not driven Lenya nuts had been Shale and Leliana. Shale because it had gone outside standing in the rain. Only saying to Lenya that it should just take this opportunity to get thoroughly clean after it had been standing in that damned village for so long, while birds apparently crapped all over it.

Leliana had not brought up any of the things Lenya had said to her at the night after they had cleared the peak. Lenya was grateful of that. She was already almost horrified, that she'd talked such personal things and with Leliana out of all the people and she had been afraid that Leliana might try to continue it. Fortunately Leliana was polite to her and tried hard to avoid talking about the chantry to her, but she also did not insist of talking about what had happen.

When the storm had finally ended Lenya had been so relieved, that she had ordered them to get going as soon as the first ray of sunshine filtered inside the barn. No one had resisted so maybe they had been as uncomfortable of being in such close quarters, as Lenya herself had been.

"Have a care where your eyes linger, Alistair," Lenya heard Morrigan say. Alistair must have been staring at Morrigan's breasts again. Lenya had noticed that he tended to do that when his mind was elsewhere. He also blushed deeply when he noticed that he'd done it again.

"Yes, well don't worry. It's not what you think," Alistar said and Lenya had to glance at him because it really must be the case or he would have just blush himself to death.

"I see," Morrigan said and she certainly didn't believe him.

"I was looking at your nose," Alistair said.

"And what is it about my nose that captivates you so?" Morrigan asked. Still suspicious.

"I was just thinking that it looks exactly like your mother's," Alistair said and Lenya had to grin at that. He was learning.

"I hate you so much," Morrigan said.

"What?" Alistair asked sounding innocent.

"Never mind," Morrigan said and slowed her walking speed so she would not be close to Alistair anymore.

"Nice one, Alistair," Lenya smiled at him.

"Thank you, my lady," Alistar bowed to her.

"Do you know how long it still takes to get to this tower where your chantry locks up your mages?" Lenya asked then.

"I'd say at least a day or two still, but I'm not very good at reading maps," Alistair replied, "We did count two weeks for the journey and two weeks will be up day after tomorrow if we don't count the time we stayed at that shed."

"What can we expect there?" Lenya asked then, "Resistance to us from the templars?"

"Probably, but they can't prevent the mages of helping us because of the treaty," Alistair reassured her.

"I don't have your faith in anything that involves the chantry, so lets hope you are correct," Lenya said. She had a feeling that everything would not go so smoothly and she hated the feeling because for once it would be nice if things would work out without fighting, "I'll go ahead and talk with Shale a bit. It looks like it has something to say."

"How can you tell?" Alistair asked curiously, "It's a pile of rock."

"I'd keep my voice a bit lower if you are going to say things like that. Shale can crush you like a lemon after all," Lenya said laughing and walked towards the golem.

* * *

><p>Alistair followed Lenya with his eyes as she went to the golem and started to talk with it. Shale gave Alistair the creeps. It's obsession to squish all soft things was disconcerting.<p>

He watched as Lenya started to laugh and curiosity made him walk a bit closer so she could hear what those two talked.

"Ah, I'm not the only one who wants to hear what they talk," Leliana whispered and appeared beside him.

"You scared me," Alistair hissed back at her, but she lifted her finger to her lips signaling him to be quiet. Grumbling a bit to himself he did as she asked.

"Would you be willing to have more added?" They heard Lenya asking.

"Why not? I don't get to wear clothing and other adornments like the rest of you creatures, after all," Shale replies. What on earth were they talking. Adding what? - Alistair thought confused.

"I'll keep my eyes open for them then," Lenya promised.

After that they walked in silence for a while until Shale interrupted it, "I have watched a lot of humans in my time," It said, "It should be aware that I have decided that it is... not much like any of them."

There was a small silence and then Lenya said bit hesitantly, "Er... because I'm not human?"

"Oh, it's not just that. Well... I'm sure that's part of it, but it's not only that," Shale said, "Surely it must come from some superior lineage, yes? Some breed of flesh creatures that has decided to elevate its genetic stock above its natural shortcomings," It continued and Alistair noticed that both him and Leliana were leaning towards the pair, so they would not miss Lenya's answer.

"Very likely," Lenya shrugged, "I am Dalish, after all," There was pride in her voice when she said that.

"Then that must be it. The humans have always spoken about elves being inferior, but obviously this is their own stupidity talking," Shale said and then its posture, if you could say rock to have a posture, changed, "I would appreciate if it didn't spread around that I said anything. Humans might start to get the wrong idea. They might start thinking their race is not completely hopeless."

Lenya burst out laughing, "And we wouldn't want that," She said chuckling.

"Indeed. Can it imagine the horror?" Shale said and a shudder went through it, "Now let us crush something into a fine paste before it starts to think I have gone all soft, perish the thought."

Leliana signaled him that they should back away now and they did so, just in time too, because Lenya turned to look behind her.

"Nice to see that she has someone to hate humans with," Alistair sighed.

"Don't be silly," Leliana said, "Yes, she doesn't like humans, but that was not what that was about. Shale is starting to like our leader and was complimenting her," She explained, "You have to see how she affects on everyone. Even Morrigan is nicer to her than she is to anyone. You like her, even though she doesn't hide it that she dislikes humans."

"And you?" Alistair asked.

"What about me?" Leliana asked back innocently.

"I've seen you watching her. Not just when we walk behind her, but in the camp as well," Alistair pointed out. He had noticed that Leliana's eyes seemed to follow Lenya where ever she was in the camp and she seemed to get pulled into talking with Lenya quite often. Even if it did end Lenya getting angry at her some of those times.

"I do like her. Well, most of the time," Leliana admitted, "When she is not in her chantry smiting mood or _'I_ _hate all humans'_ mood."

"Funny, I thought those are her only moods," Alistair smiled.

"It does seem that way at times," Leliana chuckled, but then she became more serious, "As you suggested, I did watch when she talked to Abelas and you were right. There is much more to her than hatred to the chantry and to the humans. Under all that she is a very complex woman and very lonely," Leliana said.

"But she's not alone," Alistair insisted, "I'm here and you're here. Even Morrigan. Not sure I would count Shale and Sten, but she's not alone," He continued and motioned towards others of their group.

"Yes she is," Leliana insisted, "Or do you see many Dalish elves in our group? Or any elves?"

Alistair opened his mouth to protest Leliana's words, but stopped before anything came out, "I see your point," He sighed, "I guess I never thought of it like that. She's just been Lenya to me. Only other Warden in Ferelden."

"It must be hard on her. To be thrust in the company of humans so suddenly. Leaving behind all that she had ever loved," Leliana said and again her eyes followed Lenya. She sounded like she knew more than what she was just saying. What had Lenya told her about herself? - Alistair wondered - Could he had managed to get her talking like Leliana had if he could just find the courage to approach her.

Alistair considered his words carefully before he spoke, "Do you know what she did leave behind?" He asked, "I know she left her clan, but I sense there is something more as well."

"You need to ask that from her," Leliana just said, "I won't break the trust she showed me when she talked about herself."

"How did you dare to go to speak with her?" Alistair asked, "She's scary."

"Sometimes you need to do scary things," Leliana just shrugged, "And I do find her interesting."

"Interesting how?" Alistair asked before he could stop himself.

"She is strong, charismatic, funny and really beautiful," Leliana replied, "Her tattoos alone make her exotic looking, but add gorgeous red hair and delicate, but strong body and..." At that point Leliana obviously noticed what she was actually saying and that Alistair was staring at her with his mouth open, "As I said, interesting," Leliana added and blushed a little.

"What did you do to him now?" Alistair heard Lenya's voice asking from Leliana, "He will really catch something nasty in his mouth if he keeps it open like that," That made him snap his mouth shut.

"We were just talking about women," Leliana said.

Lenya studied Alistair for a bit and lifted her brow, "Ah, I see," She said and smile curved her lips slightly, "You need to be careful when doing that with Alistair. He might break if you give him too many details about women. Even if the blushing is kind of cute," Damn that woman – Alistair cursed - Lenya knew exactly what to say to make the blush consume his whole face.

"Evil woman!" Alistair managed to say to her.

"Who? Me?" Lenya asked looking so falsely innocent that it made him mutter under his breath. Leliana chuckled at that which made Lenya turn her attention to her, "So, what would someone like you be doing in Lothering's chantry?" She asked.

"What do you mean by woman like me?" Leliana asked looking puzzled. By the question it self and for the sudden change of the topic.

"I mean beautiful, charming young woman like yourself," Lenya said. Alistair's mouth was about to open again, but then he saw Lenya winking at him. What was she doing?

"And there are no beautiful, charming women in the cloisters, you think?" Leliana said laughing, "Oh, you would be wrong," She added, "There were many lovely young initiates in the Lothering cloister- all of them chaste and virtuous," She continued and Alistair cursed again. He should have left when he had a chance. The topic was heading on really uncomfortable area. He did not want to talk about chaste initiates with Leliana and really not with Lenya. Or even listen when those two talked about them. It was too late to run now, though as Leliana continued, "Ah, it added to their mystique. Because then..." She took a dramatic pause before she continued, "...then they were forbidden, and forbidden fruit is the sweeter, no?"

"Yes, they are," Lenya said and now she looked dreamily somewhere far away. Alistair wasn't hearing this. Soon he would wake up and notice that he had just dreamed all this. Not that it was any better. Lenya would kill him if she would find out that he might have dreamed of her.

"Maybe I should go and watch..." Alistair started, but again he was too late. Lenya closed her eyes and when she opened them there was a glint in them he did not recognize.

"What about your fruit, Leliana," Lenya said with a voice that seemed to do weird things to him even though Lenya was talking to Leliana, "Is it forbidden?"

"My fruit?..." Leliana started and then she blushed, "I... uh..." Alistair would have marveled how Lenya did that, if he didn't have problems of his own. He needed to get away from the women, as in now, "I can't believe I'm having this conversation," Leliana said, "Ahem, but no, I did not take vows."

"Aw, that's too bad," Lenya said and that glint was still in her eyes, "I like forbidden things."

"Ah, I see a nice river over there. I think I go jump in it," Alistair said, finally managing to get his mouth open, "Excuse me ladies," He added and left as fast as he could. Women were evil! - He thought as he walked away from the two women.

* * *

><p>"You really are evil, Lenya," Leliana said to her after Alistair was out of the hearing range.<p>

"Of course I am," Lenya smiled at her, "He is a bit too easy mark though. You on the other hand, handled yourself well. Only minor blushing and stumbling over your words. Quite adorable."

"What?" Leliana asked and felt the blush rising again, "Oh... You think I'm adorable?" She managed to ask.

"I did not just talk to get Alistair blushing and run away you know," Lenya said, "I was honestly curious what a beautiful and charming woman like yourself did in the chantry. Feels a damn waste," She continued.

"Wait, you think I'm beautiful and adorable?" Leliana asked. She seemed totally lost in this conversation and she had a feeling that was what Lenya wanted. Why, she had no idea.

"Yes..." Lenya nodded and then she grinned at her, "For a shem at least."

Leliana collected her thoughts, which was harder than it should be, but she managed to do that and form an intelligent reply, "Thank you, Lenya."

"You're welcome," Lenya said, "Even though I'm really not the one who made you beautiful," Then she slowed her pace so she could talk with Morrigan. Leaving Leliana walking there with her head spinning.

For a moment she thought that Lenya might have just said things like that even if she did not believe in them, but she dismissed that. It was not in Lenya's character to just go and deceive like that. She always said what she thought. Even if it might hurt someone. She was honest.

Was she flirting with her? - It did look like it, but then again she knew, knew without a doubt that Lenya had a strong feelings to this Merrill she'd mentioned and again it did not seem in character to her to go and flirt with others, when she was still in love with this Merrill.

Was this simple compliment or was there happening something even Lenya was not aware? - She would need to stop thinking like this or her head would explode. Leliana admitted to herself that she might be interested in more than just friendship with Lenya. She was really intriguing woman and also very beautiful and there was definitely something drawing her to Lenya. Neither Lenya's hatred for the chantry or for humans did not diminish that. If anything they seemed to just make her more interesting.

Leliana noticed that Alistair returned to the group. He was still flustered and shot a glance towards her and then to Lenya before taking a place as far from them as he could. Which pretty much meant that he had to walk either far ahead or with Bodahn and Sandal behind them.

Leliana had a lot to think about so she shut Alistair and his predicament out of her mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Lake Calenhad<strong>

"So, that's where your chantry locks up your mages," Lenya said when the Circle tower was fully visible. Whole notion of locking up people with magical talents was foreign to her. In the clan both Marethari and Merrill were respected, valued and protected.

"How very fitting that they would build a prison for mages in the middle of a lake and make it look like a giant phallus," Morrigan said and came to stand beside her.

"You think the chantry might be compensating for something?" Lenya asked smiling.

"Lack of intelligence, perhaps," Morrigan nodded.

"Sounds about right," Lenya agreed.

"It is as much to protect mages from the people as it is protecting the people from the mages," Alistair explained.

"No one just ask mages if they want to be taken from their families and get locked up on the island," Lenya snorted, "It is wrong to treat others like this just because they are different," She didn't know why this bothered her so much. Maybe it was because of Merrill or because she saw the same injustice done to the mages that was done to her people, so she could empathize with the mages.

"Please, Lenya," Alistair said, "Don't mention that when we are in there."

"Don't worry, Alistair," Lenya said and smiled at him, "I can be diplomatic."

"You can?" Alistair blurted out, looking skeptical.

"I can," Lenya nodded, "I haven't killed anyone from the chantry after all."

"Is that what you call diplomacy?" Leliana asked looking a bit uneasy.

"More or less," Lenya shrugged, "I don't see any use for diplomacy with the chantry. They don't use it themselves so why should I?"

"Would you mind if I speak when we get there?" Alistair asked looking horrified.

"If you wish," Lenya shrugged again, "But if it seems that you don't get anywhere with your diplomacy we are going to use mine."

"You can't go threatening them with swords," Alistair said and that horrified expression remained on his face.

"Why not?" Lenya asked looking puzzled, "It has always worked on shems."

"Please tell me you were not in charge of handling the talking when your clan met with humans," Leliana said.

"Of course not," Lenya shook her head, "Marethari would have not let me speak with shems unless they needed to be threatened to go away without us chopping them to pieces. For some reason people tend to listen to me."

"I can believe that," Alistair said quietly, but loud enough for Lenya to hear.

"So can I," Leliana added.

"I don't understand why you would?" Lenya asked puzzled, "I haven't even used my diplomacy to anyone yet."

"Dear Maker," Alistair breathed out and Leliana paled.

"What?" Lenya looked at the two shems who now looked more than horrified. Then she threw her hands in the air and turned away from them, "Bloody shems."

She heard Morrigan chuckle behind her and Shale making a comment that it liked Lenya's diplomacy.

* * *

><p>When they stepped inside the Spoiled Princess Inn Lenya wished they had not done that. The smell alone was enough to make her sick. She was not sure if the inn in Lothering had smelled like this. She had barely noticed anything in the inn because of the fight. Then there were the stares. Armed elves were not a common sight, she was sure of that.<p>

"I'll go see if they have rooms," Alistair said and he seemed eager to do so. Lenya couldn't understand why.

"I think I will stay outside," Lenya said and noticed that Morrigan was nodding as well, "In fact I think I will be sleeping outside," She added and then she left the inn.

* * *

><p>"I don't think she's used to sleeping inside human buildings," Leliana said to Alistair after Lenya and Morrigan had left, "It's too bad. I was kind of hoping to sleep in bed."<p>

"She didn't say that we can't take rooms though," Alistair pointed out.

"We both know that we won't be staying here, if she's not here as well," Leliana said and she was right. No matter what, Lenya was their leader and the rest of them just followed her.

"Let's go after her," Alistair suggested and then they left the inn as well.

"Didn't they have any rooms?" Lenya asked when they stepped outside.

"We didn't ask," Leliana said, "If you are going to sleep outside so are we all."

"That's stupid," Lenya snarled, "Just because I don't want to stay in that foul smelling building, it doesn't mean you can't do so," She continued and then Alistair heard her mutter quietly, "Not that I understand why anyone would want to."

"Were you go, we go," Alistair said.

That made Lenya curse. Very eloquently with two different languages. Then, without a word, she went back inside.

"Very nice, Alistair," Morrigan congratulated him, "I didn't think you had it in you to go and manipulate her like that. I'm most impressed."

Alistair stared at her, not understanding what she was talking about, "What?" He asked, "I did not manipulate her."

"Of course not," Morrigan smiled at him like he was part of some conspiracy and she was ready to keep his secret.

"I didn't!" Alistair insisted, but then stopped. It was pointless to argue with her.

Few moments later Lenya came outside again. She looked pale and the first thing she did was inhale deeply, "We have three rooms. Alistair and Sten can share one room. Morrigan and Leliana you have your own rooms," Lenya said and then gave them all their keys and after it walked into the shore.

"Where are you going to sleep?" Leliana yelled after her.

"I told you," Lenya replied, "I will sleep outside."

"She's much better at this game than you are, Alistair," Morrigan said, "Now you really have to use the room or go to tell her that you won't," Alistair knew Morrigan was right, at least on the last part. He would never dare not to use the rooms now.

Alistair didn't like it that Lenya would be alone in the camp though. Which was other thing he wouldn't dare to go say to her. Of course Shale would be there with her, but he didn't trust the golem. Not enough that he would risk Lenya's life for it.

"You can't make her change her mind about the rooms for us, but we might be able to change her mind about her sleeping outside," Leliana said.

"How?" Alistair asked, "And more to the point, I don't think she would be happy to sleep in the same room with a human and we all are humans. Even Morrigan."

"Dimwit has a point," Morrigan said, "And I certainly won't share my room with any of you."

"Not even with her?" Leliana asked and nodded towards Lenya who was now throwing rocks at the lake.

"Not even her," Morrigan said and left.

"I hate her," Alistair said when Morrigan was gone.

Leliana just smiled at him and then said, "I'll go talk to her."

"I really don't know how you find the courage to do so," Alistair shook his head. Lenya was against most of what Leliana believed and still she went to talk to her, "She doesn't like you very much," He pointed out then.

"No, Alistair," Leliana said, "She doesn't like the chantry or humans, but I think she is starting to, if not like me, then at least accept me. As she does with you, I imagine," She added and then she as well left and he was now standing alone.

Alistair had to admit that Leliana was probably right. Lenya very rarely used even word shems when she talked about him or Leliana. Mostly she used their names or tinman in his case. He would probably never out live that nickname. She still used shems when she talked about other humans and the chantry was still number one evil to her, but after Honnleath she had not spoken badly about Maker. Well, unless you went and said something that she might do his work, then you got yelled at and called with few names in elvish you probably didn't want to know what they meant.

Alistair lifted his gaze from the ground and studied the two woman at the shore. He couldn't say, from the body language alone, if Leliana had any luck on convincing Lenya to come and sleep inside the inn. At least Lenya were not yelling. That was always a good sign.

Without knowing how long those two might be talking he sit down and leaned against the wall. Letting the warmth of the setting sun to warm his face he closed his eyes.

He didn't know how long he was there with his eyes closed or if he'd actually fell a sleep, but he was brought back to the real world when Lenya knocked his forehead, "I will not go sleep in the same room as Sten even if you sleep out here."

"What?" Alistair managed to say as his eyes snap open, "Oh, I was not sleeping," He protested.

"Of course you weren't," Lenya said and rolled her eyes, "Snoring is just what you happen to do while you are awake," She added and then turned to look behind her, "But that was not why I woke you up."

"It wasn't?" Alistair said puzzled.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "Remember those deserters from the Irregulars I said I keep my eyes open for."

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "One of them was supposed to be here."

"He is," Lenya said and nodded towards a group of men that had arrived while he'd been sleeping. "Leliana is keeping an eye on them for now, but I think they are a bit nervous and I didn't want to go talking with them without more support."

"You think they might attack you?" Alistair asked.

"Well, if they have stolen stuff and probably deserted they won't be happy to just let me get their loot and kill them," Lenya said and she rolled her eyes again. She was thinking he was slow and perhaps a dimwit too.

"Want me to go get Morrigan and Sten?" Alistair asked.

"No need," Lenya shook her head, "We have Shale with us and it's itching to crush something, so I say we let it have some fun," She said and nodded at different direction. Shale and Leliana were standing there, waiting for them most likely.

"I don't understand how you can trust it," Alistair said and started to get up from the ground.

"You could as easily ask how I can trust you, Leliana or Morrigan, if you go ask that. I have a lot more reasons to not trust humans than I have reasons to not trust Shale," Lenya said and Alistair opened his mouth to protest, but then he just closed it without saying a thing. If you looked things on Lenya's point of view she was right, "Come on tinman, there's fighting to do."

* * *

><p>"What the hell is wrong with you shems?" Lenya asked from Alistair after they had killed the deserter and his group, "He says that he doesn't have time to set things straight or that he will talk with any pawn of Taoran. Like he was in such a damn hurry to get somewhere before I talked with him."<p>

"That was odd," Leliana nodded, "It sounds like there might be something going on in the Irregulars that we don't know about."

"Great," Lenya shook her head, "Getting involved in some groups inner problems is just what I need," Then she sighed, "I tell you one thing though. If we don't get paid for doing this I will destroy their whole damn group."

"I like how it thinks," Shale said.

"Would you please step away from that poor man," Alistair said and he looked a bit sick. Lenya turned to look at Shale who was standing on what had once, maybe been a human.

"Not that I'm not glad of your enthusiasm for squishing softies, Shale, but I would appreciate it if you would not stomp them into a quite so fine paste," Lenya said, "It's damn hard to loot them."

"I will consider what it says," Shale said and stepped away from the man it had been stomping on, "Hmm, I think I will need a bath," It said then and walked into the lake until it was completely underwater.

"It's creepy how Shale crushes things and then talks about them in such casual manner," Alistair said and a shiver ran through him, "All though I have to admit that you are even more creepy when you do the same."

"I know," Lenya smiled at him and went through the dead men belongings, "Ah, here it is," She said and pulled a small bundle from the deserters backpack, "Such a huge fuss over something so small," She shook her head.

"It is often the smaller things that incite the most of the fusses," Leliana said.

"I know," Lenya nodded, "I would do anything, tear anything to pieces, if someone would take my amulet," She added and without thinking her hand got to her belt pouch and checked, that Merrill's amulet was still there. She saw Leliana smile at her and Alistair looking curious. That made her curse a little. She had started to be too relaxed around them and revealing things about herself, she would prefer to keep to herself. She was glad that Leliana had not tried to talk to her about the things she'd said about Merrill and the amulet. It was obvious though that the red haired bard had not forgot about them either.

Lenya finished looting the dead and went to the shoreline to wash her hands and face. She tried to look from her reflection if her hair was all bloodied again, but there was not enough light anymore. She sighed and turned to speak with Leliana, "Is there any blood in my hair?"

"Not that I can see," Leliana replied, "Human blood doesn't show as well in your hair as darkspawn blood though so I can't be sure."

"I guess I wash it just in case then," Lenya said and removed her weapons before entering the water, "You two can go to your rooms and have a bath. I don't need a babysitter."

"You got us a bath as well as rooms?" Leliana asked. For some reason it seemed to shock her.

"Yes..." Lenya said turning to look at her, "You talked about how eagerly you were waiting for it, did you not?"

"I did, but I didn't..." She seemed to be struggling to find the words, "I didn't think anyone, but Bodahn heard me," Leliana had indeed been talking with Bodahn about the inn near the Kinloch hold, which apparently was what the mages tower was called, when Lenya had walked past them on her way to speak with Morrigan, who again had put her own fire up as far as she could from the rest.

"Well, I heard you," Lenya said, "Go enjoy your bath," She added then, "And you too Alistair."

"I have not said I want a bath." Alistair protested.

"True," Lenya nodded, "You may not want one, but you certainly need one. You smell worse than Abelas."

"Hey!" Alistair exclaimed, looking hurt.

"I'm afraid that she is right," Leliana said, "You do smell, quite badly," She added smiling a little apologetic smile at him.

Alistair stared at them both for a moment looking annoyed and then he turned around and left. Muttering to himself.

Leliana smiled as her eyes followed Alistair and then she turned to look at Lenya, "Ma serannas, Lenya," She said before she follow Alistair inside the inn.

Lenya followed Leliana with her eyes until she stepped inside the inn. Then she heard and felt that something huge was moving in the water near her. Not long after, Shale's head broke the surface of the lake and then rest of the golem followed, "Ah, I see it has been left alone," Shale said as water dripped and glistened on its rocky skin.

"Finally," Lenya nodded, "You on the other hand have to suffer my company as we three are the only ones who sleep outside."

"Its company is not entirely unpleasant," Shale said, "Unlike the tinmans," Lenya grinned at the golem when it used the nickname she'd given to Alistair.

"I thought you might like the uneasiness you cause in him," Lenya smiled.

"I do enjoy it, that is true, but the tinman is also mistrustful of me. Unlike it is," Shale said.

"That is true," Lenya admitted. Alistair really didn't trust Shale and he was confused about the fact that she did, "If you want him to trust you, you would need to stop squishing things or at least stop talking about how you enjoy it."

"I don't think Tinmans trust is worth stopping something I enjoy," Shale said.

"I thought so," Lenya nodded, "You want to stand here or will you come to the camp?"

"I think someone should stand in watch as it sleeps," Shale said.

"No need for that, Shale. Abelas is enough watch for me," Lenya pointed at the mabari who barked happily at her.

"Nevertheless I will do so," Shale said and then it headed towards the clearing they had made their camp.

She finished washing and then followed the golem. Next day would be an ordeal, she just knew it. Whole tower full of armed shems who thought they were doing their Makers work by enslaving other people because they were different. It would be a miracle if she would not end up killing at least one of them.

For a moment she thought that maybe she should try to learn some diplomacy, but that thought made her chuckle almost the moment it came to her. She was not suited for diplomacy. Never had been and probably never would be. She could think strategically and act according to it, but she would never call that diplomacy.

Still chuckling when she got to her tent, she readied her bedroll and sent silent prayer to Mythal so she would spare her from the darkspawn dreams this night. She took the amulet from the pouch and pressed it over her heart and then she closed her eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there is the chapter 9 and also first chapter of this new year. This chapter was a traveling chapter and ad such it is a good for the party banters. Both those that are actually in game and those that I feel has to be there.**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are always welcome.**

**Happy New Year 2012 to you all. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Chapter 10 is here and it's time for the Circle tower.**

**I wish to thank everyone who have read this far. Special thanks to those who have alerted or faved and very special thanks to those who reviewed. Extra special thanks to Faelan, without your continued support I don't think this would be possible.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware. Things you don't recognize belong to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, November 2013: Grammar and other errors fixed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Lake Calenhad<strong>

Lenya was already waiting for others at the shore when they started to come out from the inn. Sten was first and he just nodded at her and went to wait nearby. Leliana and Morrigan were next and Alistair a bit later.

"Slept well?" Lenya asked from them and got few nods and a grunt from Sten. She promised herself that someday she would find out for what Sten was saving his words for.

"Did you sleep at all?" Leliana asked from her, "I mean you were here when I went to bed and you're still here."

"No, I stood here all night," Lenya replied, "Very relaxing and stuff."

"You're joking... Right?" Alistair said looking unsure, "You didn't actually stand here all night."

"It did not do that," Shale said, "Like all soft squishy things it went to sleep."

"Spoilsport!" Lenya said to Shale, "It seems that there is only that thing there, to take us over the lake," She then said and pointed at the boat, that was now docked in the pier.

"We can't all fit in that," Alistair said after studying the boat for a moment.

"Five at most and there is no way it can carry Shale," Lenya nodded at Alistair, "Would you guard our camp while we are there?" She asked from Shale.

"Since it is asking... I will do this thing," Shale said after a short pause.

"Thank you, Shale," Lenya nodded at the golem, "Oh, and Shale..."

"Yes?" Shale turned to look at her.

"There are no limitations on what is acceptable for you to do to those who try to steal our things or try to hurt Bodahn and Sandal," Lenya said and grinned at the golem.

"Such nice things it says to me," Shale said and headed back to the clearing where their camp was.

"For any bandits sake I hope none will try to steal things from the camp," Leliana said.

"You are a cruel woman. Hoping things like that when bandits happening in our camp would make Shale happy," Lenya said, "Let's go then. We might need to beat that imbecile to death though," She added and pointed at the templar, who was guarding the boat, "He insisted that he can't let us pass and when I told him that I am a Grey Warden, he told me he's queen of Antiva. I would have killed the idiot, but I did promise that I let you handle the speaking," She added smiling pleasantly to Alistair.

"I'm so glad," Alistair sighed. He obviously already regretted making that request.

"Well, go on," Lenya urged him, "We need to get over the lake today."

"You're a cruel and evil woman!" Alistair grumbled, "But I'm sure you know that already," He added and went to talk to the templar.

* * *

><p><strong>The Circle Tower<strong>

It really hadn't looked promising to Alistair when they had stepped in from the tower main doors. There had been wounded templars lying around and they had heard the agitation from the commanders voice as he spoke to his men. From that point on, Alistair had known that there was no room for his diplomacy after all. He'd took a glance at Lenya, who had studied the room and the templars and then her expression had turned serious.

Alistair was a bit surprised that they were even allowed to try and solve the problem. Although he was damn sure that Lenya would not just kill everyone in the tower like Greagoir had suggested. Alistair knew that Lenya saw mages as victims and templars as their slavers. Even though he'd tried to explain that templars were dependent from the chantry.

Alistair was glad though, that he'd not been on the receiving end of Lenya's scorn. Greagoir had taken it pretty well when Lenya had called them incompetent idiots. All the good reputation Lothering templars had managed to achieve with Lenya's eyes had pretty much disappeared when she talked with Greagoir.

Now they were going through the first rooms of the floor and no one dared to speak with Lenya, who looked grim. There were dead mages and templars lying everywhere. Lenya didn't stop to search them or even slow down until they saw a body that was smaller than the rest. It was child's battered body. An elven child.

Very gently Lenya turned the little body over and brushed the bloody hair away from the child's face. There was deep gashes in the chest of the little body. Lenya was whispering something in elvish, but Alistair couldn't make out the words, except the word Falon'Din. It must be one of her gods, probably god of afterlife or something like that, since he remembered Lenya using it to those two guards who died at the top of the tower of Ishal.

"They will pay," Lenya said and stood up, "Whoever is behind this, they will pay," She promised to them and when she turned around Alistair took a step back. Lenya's blue eyes seemed to glow. He'd heard about such things from the older wardens. Sometimes when the wardens got older their eyes could start to glow when darkspawn were near, but Lenya was even younger warden than he was and he couldn't sense any darkspawn nearby. Only tainted being he could feel was Lenya. Her presence had been growing since the Peak as her body adjusted to the taint. Or it might be the damn potion she'd drank there.

No one said anything to Lenya as they followed her out of the dormitory. Alistair noticed that he was not the only one who had seen the glow or whatever it had been. Leliana looked at him, searching for an confirmation of what she'd seen or maybe an explanation. He shrugged and Leliana seemed to sigh and then her eyes turned to Lenya again. Morrigan looked curious and Sten... well, Alistair had no idea what went through in his head.

As they followed Lenya, Alistair was glad that they had not seen any abominations or demons yet. Many dead mages and templars yes, but nothing living. Which probably meant that they were somewhere ahead of them.

Just as that thought went through Alistair's mind he heard it. Sounds of fighting. Lenya picked up the pace and they hurried to the next room. Only to witness how a rage demon got destroyed by an white haired mage who looked familiar somehow. Alistair was certain he'd seen her before.

When they stopped, the mage turned around and raised her staff. Then her eyes focused on Lenya and she said, "It's you!" Then she continued, "No... come no further. Grey Warden or no. I will strike you down where you stand!"

Lenya tilted her head like Alistair had seen Abelas doing, "You can certainly try, but I don't want to kill you in front of the children," Lenya shrugged, "Why you even have children with you?" She then asked puzzled.

"The tower is a place of learning. Young apprentices are always here. Why is that surprising?" The old mage asked and then shook her head, "But this is no time to discuss that. Why are you here? Why did the templars let you through?" She demanded.

"I help Greagoir to resolve the circle's difficulties," Lenya replied.

"Then you do serve the templars as I feared," The old mage said, making Alistair inhale sharply. He lifted his hand to stop Lenya, but there was no way he could actually succeed in it.

"I do not serve the templars, Mage!" Lenya snarled, "I don't serve anything that has anything to do with the chantry, so unless you don't want me to really kill you in front of the children, you don't speak of things like that," Her voice never rose which made it even more forceful, "I am here, because I need the mages to defeat the damn blight and because I have a treaty that compels you to help me. I couldn't give a damn about the templars, the chantry or shems or even your damned problems, but it is my damn duty to stop the blight and you are lucky, because I need you in order to do that. If I have to tear this damn tower to the ground I will do it, but I will not leave here without the mages help, if there is even one of you alive to do so. Then I may even take the damn templars with me so they can finally do something useful instead of babysitting you mages."

The old woman's posture seemed to change. She did not relax completely, but she was not pointing her staff at them anymore.

"I apologize, Warden," The old mage said then, "But can you tell me if the templars have a Right of Annulment?"

"Templars have sent for it, but it has not arrived and I wouldn't even trust that it ever will. Country isn't as safe as it used to be," Lenya said, "In any case, they don't attack without reinforcements. Bloody useless shems."

"So Greagoir thinks the Circle is beyond hope," The old mage sighed, "He probably assumes we are all dead," She continued, "They abandoned us to our fate, but even trapped as we are, we have survived. If they invoke the right, however, we will not be able to stand against them."

"If you ask me, he is incompetent idiot," Lenya said, "But then again he's a shem so what can you expect," She added then and smiled, "What happen here anyway?" She asked looking curious.

"Let it suffice to say that we had something of a revolt on our hands, led by mage named Uldred," The old mage replied, "When he returned from the battle at Ostagar, he tried to take over the Circle. As you can see it didn't work out as he had planned."

"Either that or he's really bad at planning," Lenya said and Alistair saw the lips of the mage twist upwards a little. He didn't know how Lenya did that. She was rude, brutally honest and didn't hide her dislikes, but still people seemed to like her.

"I don't know what became of Uldred, but I'm certain all this is his doing. I will not loose the Circle for one mans pride and stupidity," The old mage said.

"And yet you were sitting here this whole time?" Lenya asked confused. Alistair could understand that. Lenya was not, and neither was he, one for waiting for things to solve themselves.

"I tried to help the children get out, but the doors were locked... No one responded when I called for help. What else was I supposed to do?" The old mage asked, her voice tired, "I erected a barrier over the door so nothing from inside could attack the children," She added then and pointed the door where shimmering field of magic was moving around.

"You could have taken the mages here and started clearing the tower," Lenya said after she studied the barrier for a moment, "If you kill every demon, abomination and what else there might be ahead there, as you go further none would have got back here to threaten the children. Yes, they would have been defenseless, but their situation is not any better now either, except that they will not die alone when either the templars finally get their reinforcements or the demons take over the whole tower. You can't win a battle if you just wait for it to go away," Lenya was, like she always was, brutally honest. No coddling. Only thing she did do, was lower her voice so the children did not hear what she said. She might be brutally honest and even cold towards adults, but children seemed to have same effect as Abelas had. They brought out the softer Lenya, "Since you've not done anything it falls to me to do it for you," She added then.

Alistair couldn't quite figure out what the expression on the old mages face meant. He was damn sure she had not been lectured at... well, for a very long time.

"You will not be able to enter the tower as long as the barrier holds," The old mage said finally, "But I will dispel it, if you join with me to save the Circle."

Lenya sighed, "Leliana," She said and turned to talk to the red haired woman, "Is there something written somewhere in my person that says that I collect shems?" She asked, "I asked it from Alistair when you were trying to join us and he said no, but I'm not sure I believe him anymore."

"No, Lenya, there isn't anything written in your body," Leliana replied trying to hide her smile, "You just give off that certain aura that tells people that you get things done."

"Or you all lie to me and there is text in my forehead or something." Lenya shakes her head. "Why do you want to come with me and what skills do you have?" She asked from the mage, but before the old mage had time to answer Lenya added, "This doesn't mean I will take you with me and telling me that you won't dispel that thing, if I don't do as you want, doesn't work on me. That thing goes off, one way or the other, regardless of what I decide. There is nothing you can do to stop me."

Alistair did not know how long it took as Lenya and the mage just stared at each other. He did not want to fight these people, but he knew, that if it came to that he would follow Lenya's lead. Finally, when he was already sure that it would be necessary to fight, the old mage relaxed and nodded at Lenya.

"Alright, young lady," The old mage said, "My name is Wynne, if you've forgotten it," She introduced herself and then explained why she wanted to come with them and what her skills were. Apparently she was a skilled healer.

"You can come with us," Lenya said. It must have been the healer part that convinced her. He couldn't believe that any of the other reasons, Wynne gave to them, counted at all.

"You want us to assist this preachy schoolmistress?" Morrigan asked, her voice full of contempt, "To rescue these pathetic excuses for mages?" Alistair wanted to strangle the woman. How could anyone be so spiteful, "They allow themselves to be corralled like cattle, mindless. Now their masters have chosen death for them and I say let them have it."

"I have made my decision, Morrigan. We help the mages," Lenya said, "If you don't like it, you can go knock on the door there and I'm sure the templars will let you out if you ask nicely."

"Have it your way," Morrigan scoffed.

"Oh I will," Lenya smiled at Morrigan, "I'm so happy that you give me your approval on it though," She added and clapped her hands together in a mock enthusiasm. Morrigan rolled her eyes and went to stand away from Lenya. That made Alistair grin. To him Morrigan would have just continued her barbs, but towards Lenya that was out of the question.

"Petra, Kinnon... look after others. I will be back soon," Wynne said to the other mages.

"Wynne... are you sure you're alright?" The woman, Petra, said, "You were so badly hurt earlier. Maybe I should come along."

"If she can keep me alive, nothing will hurt her up there," Lenya said. She sounded so sure of that, that it made Alistair believe her. How did she do that? Where did that confidence came from? "And if she can't, well... I doubt you being with us would help you anyway."

"The others need your protection more. I will be alright," Wynne said to the woman. Even though she gave a short glance to Lenya, "Stay here with them... Keep them safe and calm."

"Lets be off. We've talked away enough time," Lenya said and she turned to look at the barrier.

"If you are ready, let us go end this," Wynne said and followed Lenya to the barrier.

* * *

><p>When they got to the fancier looking room on the second floor, Lenya had really started to hate demons and mages who tried to throw fire spells at her. Cold spells were nasty and made her teeth clatter, but at least you could get warm after wards, but fire spells just burned everything.<p>

"This is Irving's room," Wynne said and Lenya turned to watch the old mage. Wynne had earned her respect during their ascend to the tower. She was a truly gifted healer, "I guess I was expecting to find him here," Wynne sighed. Then she turned away like the sight of the mess in the room was too much for her.

Lenya shrugged and gave a sign to Alistair, to go and see if the the old mage was alright. Alistair nodded and left the room.

Lenya was left in the room with just Leliana. Morrigan still stayed away from her and Sten seemed to stand in the hallway, looking bored.

"Look if you can find anything that could help us find out what happen in here," Lenya says to Leliana, "I know what Wynne said, but she's too close to the issue to see anything clearly."

"As you wish, Lenya," Leliana nodded and started to go through Irving's papers, that were lying on the desk.

Lenya herself was drawn to the large chest in the corner. Knowing that it was not polite to go and open other people's chests she cursed herself, the feeling was there again, urging her to open the chest.

Sighing deeply she opened the chest and looked inside. There was few potions of lyrium, some empty sheets of paper and large black book. It was that, that has triggered the feeling in her. Carefully she lifted the book from the chest and tried to open it. Without a success.

"What's that?" Leliana asked behind her.

"Something I need to take with me," Lenya replied and put the tome in her bag, "Did you find anything?"

"Nothing much," Leliana replied, "Only thing that struck my eye was this note where Irving has given the task to root out the blood mages from the tower to a one senior mage."

"Let me guess," Lenya said and turned to look at Leliana, "He gave the job to Uldred," She said and Leliana nodded, "I am starting to believe that it's not just the templars that are idiots in this tower, but mages as well. Maybe they've been exposed to too much magic and turned into a simpletons. They do live in this damn tower all the time after all," Leliana giggled at that.

"I don't think we can get any more answers from here," Leliana said after stifling her giggles. She did sound rather nice when she giggled - Lenya thought and then shook her head in confusion - Where did that thought come from?

"Let's go," Lenya said in a bit unsure voice. She could feel Leliana's eyes on her as she stepped out of the room. She was probably getting sick or something or she was just plainly going nuts for real.

"Did you find anything?" Alistair asked.

"Only a note that said that Irving had appointed Uldred to weed out all the blood mages in the tower," Lenya replied and studied Wynne, "It seems that your first enchanter has put a fox to guard his hens," She said to Wynne.

"It seems so," Wynne nodded. Wynne had not agreed with Lenya when she'd spared that one blood mage woman. Neither had Alistair or Sten. Morrigan was still staying far from her and had not said anything. Leliana had been the only one who had supported her. Leliana's reasons were completely different than hers or at least the parts with the chantry taking anyone in no matter their sins. On that she agreed with Alistair. She hoped the woman would get away and would truly redeem herself like she'd promised, "You don't approve the Circle," Wynne said bringing Lenya back from her musings.

"What gave me away?" Lenya asked smiling, "But no, I do not approve slavery."

"But my dear, we are not slaves," Wynne said.

"But you are," Lenya said, "You are all here against your will or did anyone ask if you wanted to be here? Can you leave and live your life outside? It doesn't change the fact that you are slaves if you just accept your fate and think, well, it's not so bad. The Chantry confines you here and even kills you in here, all in a name of safety. You are told that your power are a curse and you need to be constantly watched because you might, Might, turn into a abomination. All this is done for your own good of course," Then she sighed and shook her head. Whole idea of the Circle made her itching to destroy the system, "But this is not the place to talk about that and I doubt you even think I'm right. You can't see the forest from the trees," Lenya added and suppressed her urge to start a war on the Chantry. By the Creators she hated the Chantry. Without waiting if Wynne agreed she turned and left.

* * *

><p>Alistair followed Lenya with his eyes. He did not like the Circle much either, but he'd never seen it like that. If you started to think about it more closely, Lenya was right.<p>

"Quite spirited young woman," Wynne said to him.

"You have no idea," Alistair sighed, "I hope she didn't offend you... too much."

"It'll take more than that to offend me, young man," Wynne said, "She is young and young people are always fiery and passionate about things."

Alistair did not want to be around if Wynne went and tried to assure Lenya that all she felt, was because she was young. Old woman or not, Lenya might just behead her. Lenya might be young, but her views were not. If you listened her long enough you found yourself wondering how old she actually was. It was like Lenya was carrying around all the accumulated knowledge of the Dalish. She probably was too.

"Don't you worry, young man, I am quite sure she won't kill me," Wynne said. Scaring him a bit. Did the old woman read his thoughts? - Chill went down on his spine when he thought about that.

"I hope you are right for your own sake," Alistair said, "Let's go after her. She will be mad if she has to clear the tower all alone."

Alistair didn't know if Wynne followed him and he didn't actually care. He just wanted to reach Lenya before she found herself fighting against mages and demons again. His templar abilities were really useful against them. All though he had found Lenya studying him, when he did use them. Like she was trying to learn them. He had promised the Grand Cleric that he'd keep the templar secrets, but how could he keep that promise if Lenya could just learn them by watching him. One part of him actually wanted to teach them to Lenya if she ever would ask him about them.

* * *

><p>"Alistair," Lenya said when she sensed him coming closer. It was damn creepy how she could feel Alistair through the taint. Avernus's potion had 'opened' the knowing how to listen the taint in her. As well as the few other things. She knew something had happen to her eyes when she'd spoken her vow to end the elf child's killers. She'd seen everything through a blue glow.<p>

"Yes?" Alistair replied and came to stand at her side.

"If there is an ogre on top of this damn tower and I get shot full of arrows. Would you be so kind and prevent any shapeshifters taking me away and healing me," Lenya said and looked at the stairs that lead to the upper levels of the tower.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Alistair said, "I think saving us from the top of that tower was one time deal."

"I hope so," Lenya sighed, "This whole place feels wrong," She added then and a shiver ran through her.

"I know," Alistair nodded, "It's like the Peak, only worse."

"I wish you'd not said that," Lenya sighed again, "I really have tried to ignore the fact myself. Feeling that the Beyond is so close makes my skin crawl."

"Glad it's not just me then," Alistair said smiling.

"Didn't I tell you to take a bath last evening?" Lenya said and grinned at him, "If your skin is crawling, it's probably because you disobeyed that order."

"Hey!" Alistair exclaimed, trying to sound insulted, but a big smile spreading on his lips ruined the attempt, "I let you know that I did take a bath and even removed my armor before taking it."

"Well, well, wonders never seizes to exist," Lenya laughed at him, "Thank you, Alistair," She then said, obviously shocking the living Creator or perhaps the Maker out of him, "It is good to know that I can trust you to lighten the mood," And it truly was. He was a shem, but he was also the only other Warden in Ferelden and perhaps even a friend. It could have been a lot worse and she might have ended up with some drooling lecher, who would have tried to conquer her or something and she would have been forced to kill him.

"Glad to help," Alistair managed to say.

Lenya smiled at him. Warm and friendly smile. Not like the smiles she usually gave him that were full of double meanings, wickedness and mischievous. She saw how the friendly smile affected him and she regretted doing that. He really was not ready for a friendly smiles. For a moment she toyed on the idea of giving him a flirting smile, just to see what would happen, but by the looks of it, he was already getting wrong ideas from the friendly smile.

He stared at the floor blushing deeply and shifted his weight from foot to foot. Yes, no more smiles for him – Lenya thought.

* * *

><p>Alistair had never thought Lenya as a woman before. He'd known she was one of course, but so far she'd been too scary for him, to even think her as one. Now, with that warm smile she'd given him. He couldn't shake the thought that she was a woman. A very beautiful woman.<p>

"By the Creators, Alistair," Alistair heard Lenya saying, but did not dare to lift his eyes from the floor, "I swear that I have never seen anyone who is so unaccustomed of talking to a woman. First I thought it's just me that makes you stumble since everyone else does that too, but I have seen you go and blush when you talk to a any woman."

"Is... is it..." Alistair started and then coughed, "Is it so bad to be respectful when talking to a beautiful woman such as you?" He asked and then it hit him. What he'd just said and to whom. He wanted nothing more than the ground to open up and swallow him.

"Depends on who you are talking with," Lenya said and then added, "And you are blushing so much that I am afraid it might be bad for you," Lenya grinned at him, "Never seen anything like that. Merrill was pretty bad and rambled a lot, but even she did not blush like that, when she talked to me," She continued and then fell silent, "Anyway, we should get up there." She then said and with that she started to climb the stairs.

Alistair stared after her. He could not quite understand what had just happen. Lenya had treated him like a person, even a friend, instead of just the only other warden in Ferelden.

"She slips like that more and more these days," Leliana said behind him, "She misses her clan a lot and tries to fill the void they left in her. And since we are all she have..." She did not finish the sentence and she really did not need to, "Anyway, we better start climbing," She added and walked past him.

When Alistair looked behind him, he noticed that only Leliana had come close enough to hear. He did not know if Lenya had noticed that. Shaking his head he motion the others to follow before going after Lenya and Leliana.

* * *

><p>The higher in the tower they climbed, the tougher the demons and abominations became. They've had to fight through demons, abominations and even templars that had been enthralled by the Desire demons. They had not found any mages alive, but there were few rooms that had been barricaded from the inside. Lenya was fairly sure that if there were any living mages it was on those rooms. She could not believe that the abominations or the demons had locked themselves inside like that.<p>

"Alright Wynne," Lenya said finally. They had been seeing some kind of fleshy growths getting larger, but nothing told her what those were or what they did, "What are those?" She asked and pointed one large growth.

"I don't know. I have never seen anything like that," Wynne replied, "I am sure it is the work of the demons or blood mages."

"And here I thought you mages just like hideous pulsating fleshy sacks," Lenya sighed, "Do you think those are dangerous to us?"

"Considering that those growths have not done anything to us so far, I'd say those are harmless to us. For now at least. There is no telling what those become if they are allowed to grow," Wynne explained.

"Good, thank you," Lenya nodded, "We leave them alone, for now anyway," She ordered and studied their surroundings. Unlike the previous floors there was no bodies near the stairs they've come up, "How many floors we still have to climb?"

"There is one more floor after this and that is the Harrowing chamber floor," Wynne replied, "Harrowing Chamber is also the last floor of the tower."

"Ok, let's go get this done then," Lenya decided and then she heard it. Someone was speaking and that voice had the echo she now knew to be demonic origin. She lifted her hand to make sure others did not make a sound.

As she listened to the speaker it changed it's voice and spoke as it were more than one person. A Desire demon was speaking to a templar who sounded happy.

For once she did not lose it, when she heard the voice of the Desire demon. Maybe it was because it was not speaking to her or she might have satisfied her taste for revenge on that kind of demons. She didn't know, but it was not important anyway.

As she stepped into the room, from where the voices were coming, she saw a Desire demon talking to a templar, who looked blissful. The demon was a bit annoyed about their interruption, but it did not seem hostile.

Lenya entered in a conversation with the demon and she found herself agreeing with the damn thing. Sure, she had enthralled the man to think he had a family, but other than that she had not hurt the man and he did seem happy.

"I'll leave you alone if you show the same courtesy to us," Lenya heard herself saying. She also heard disagreement from Wynne and Alistair. Sten, Morrigan and Leliana seemed to approve. Leliana seemed to be unsure though, if what she did was right or wrong because the man had looked happy. Which was pretty much why she'd decided to let the demon go.

"I want nothing from you," The demon said, "I have all I need," She continued and then talked to the templar before they disappear from the room.

"Ok, we need to go through that central room in order to get around the huge barricade that has been built to block us from getting to the stairs that lead up," Lenya said and turned to leave, but Wynne and Alistair just looked at her instead of doing as she said. That made her sigh, "Yes, I let the Desire demon take that man, but the other option would have been to fight them both. Only way to separate them would have been to kill the templar. He looked happy and so what if that was just an illusion. Sometimes that's all we all have," She said and left. She was not going to talk more about this with them.

When the others came out of the room where the Desire demon had been, Lenya was looking at the door that lead inside the central room of the floor. She had a bad feeling about that room, but it couldn't be helped. If they wanted to get forward they would need to go through that room.

"You feel it too?" Lenya asked from Leliana who was first at her side.

"Yes, something is in there," Leliana nodded.

"Something bad," Lenya nodded, "Unfortunately that's where we need to go if we want to get anywhere," She looked at her companions who all readied themselves and then she opened the door.

In the center of the room, there was standing a really hideous looking creature. It was studying a body of an man when they entered. Very slowly it turned to face them.

"Oh, look. Visitors. I'd entertain you, but... too much effort involved," The demon said in a slow sleepy voice. Lenya felt some power washing over her and she started to feel sleepy as well.

Lenya shook her head to clear it, "Killing demon is enough entertainment for me, thanks," She said, but at the same time she felt awfully drowsy.

"But why?" The demon asked and again that power washed over Lenya. She was dimly aware of the others and she just knew they were struggling against this power as well. "Aren't you tired of all the violence in the world? I know I am," The demon said and the feeling of the power increased. It started to be hard to think.

"Wouldn't you like to just lay down and... forget about this?" The demon asked and Lenya found her resolve faltering. Yes, why wouldn't she do that, "Leave it all behind?"

"Can't... keep eyes open. Someone... pinch me," Lenya heard Alistair say, but he sounded to be a far away.

"I'm not listening your lies, demon," Leliana said, but her voice was faltering as well, "You have... no power over me."

"Resist," Lenya heard Wynne say, but her voice was also faltering. Why should they resist. She thought. "You must resist, else we are all lost," She heard Wynne continuing.

And then again the soothing and calming voice of the demon, "Why do you fight?" It asked. Yes, why did she fight - Lenya thought, "You deserve more... You deserve rest," Damn straight she deserved a rest, "The world will go on without you," It better, Lenya thought as her view was getting hazy. Then as the blackness claimed her she collapsed on the floor. Oblivious of the sounds the other made as they too fell.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that is the end of chapter 10 and end of the first part in the Circle. Not much to say about the chapter it self. It's pretty clear. Few changes done to the dialogs again to suit Lenya and her views better.**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are always welcome. Good or bad.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Chapter 11 is here and it's the Fade. It's one part of the game that was disappointment for me. I liked the idea well enough, but for the Warden seeing Duncan there and all the nonsense with Weishaupt fortress. Ugh! None of my Wardens would have seen Duncan there. Well, now I had chance to do something about it.**

**Thank you for all who's read this far. Special thank to those who faved or alerted and very special thanks to those who reviewed. Very, very special thanks to Faelan for all the support you've given me.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware. All you don't belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself**

****Update, November 2013: Grammar and other errors fixed.****

* * *

><p><em><strong>With the Clan<strong>_

_Lenya opened her eyes and for a moment she did not know where she was. There was arm wrapped around her and a warm body pressed against her own._

_Startled, she bolted up and turned to stare at the bed. Merrill was looking at her sleepily, "What is it, my love?" Merrill asked._

_"Merrill?" Lenya asked confused and looked at the woman she loved._

_"Who else it would be?" Merrill chuckled at her, "Are you feeling alright?" She asked and there was as hint of worry in her voice._

_"I don't..." Lenya started, but didn't know what she was going to say. Why did she acted like this? - she thought - Like this were not as things should be. She'd seen something, hideous creatures or something - A dream - That's what it must have been, "Nightmare, I think." She said finally._

_"That's what you get when you drink too much," Merrill said and smiled at her and then she removed her blanket. She didn't have any clothes on, "I know what makes you feel better," She said and looked at her invitingly._

_"When did you get so saucy?" Lenya asked smiling and admired her lovers body._

_"When we were mated," Merrill said and pulled her into the bed. Mated - Lenya thought - Something was wrong in that thought, but whatever it was, disappeared from her mind when Merrill kissed her passionately._

* * *

><p><em>Much, much later Lenya got up from the bed again. Their love making had been incredible, "You were incredible, my love," She said to Merrill who lay on the bed and looked at her as she put her clothes on.<em>

_"You were not bad yourself either," Merrill smiled at her and stretched her body drowsily._

_"Going to stay in bed the whole day?" Lenya asked then, "Not that I mind you lying there naked, but Marethari might yell at you if you are late."_

_"No," Merrill said, shaking her head, "She knows better than to expect me there early."_

_"I never understood how did you ever manage to convince her of that," Lenya said. She remembered Merrill coming to tell her about it - or did she? - Whatever she'd drank last night was really messing with her head._

_"I asked her," Merrill shrugged and got up from the bed. It was now Lenya's turn to watch as her love put her clothes on, "You're staring at me, love," Merrill said and gave a brilliant smile to her._

_"How can I not?" Lenya said and answered the smile with her own, "You are perfect," She pulled Merrill into a kiss._

_Little moan escaped from Merrill as she kissed down her jawline and took her ear lope between her lips, "I... " Merrill tried to say._

_"Yes?" Lenya asked, but never stopped to nipple at her ear._

_"I... by the Creators!" Merrill sighed and wrapped her hands around Lenya._

_"Lenya! Merrill!" Shout interrupted them, "Are you up yet?" Tamlen's voice asked from the outside of their aravel._

_"He always have had a terrible timing," Lenya smiled and gave one last nipple at Merrill's ear._

_"You know we don't have to tell him that we are up," Merrill whispered in her ear. She could feel her warm breath on her ear and it made her shiver._

_"Tempting, by the Creators, that is tempting, but you know as well as I do that he just keeps yelling there until we are up."_

_"Want me to turn him into a toad?" Merrill asked and pulled away from her embrace._

_"Also tempting, but his wife might complain if she gets a toad home instead of him," Lenya said and felt a moment of dizziness as she did so. Tamlen did not have a wife - She thought - Or did he? "I think I may be getting ill. My head keeps spinning and I get these flashes of things..." She didn't know how to describe them._

_"We should go ask Marethari to check you up," Merrill said looking worried now, "I don't want to lose you now, when I finally got you."_

_"I don't want to lose you either," Lenya said smiling. Another shout from the outside of the aravel from Tamlen, "We are up you spoilsport!" She yelled at him._

_"Did I interrupt something?" Tamlen asked, sounding apologetic._

_"Nothing we can't continue, once I've turned you into a toad," Merrill yelled back at him._

_"By the Creators, I'm so sorry," Tamlen's voice faded to a muttering._

_"We'll continue this later," Lenya whispers to Merrill's ear before she got out of their aravel._

* * *

><p><em>"I am truly sorry," Tamlen said when she stepped out of the aravel into the bright sunlight.<em>

_"It's not me who you need to apologize if you don't want to get turned into a toad," Lenya said to her friend, "What even made you come and yell like that?" She asked, "You should know better than that."_

_"Marethari told me to come get you," Tamlen said._

_"What does she want?" Lenya asked, "Today should be resting day for the whole clan."_

_"I don't know," Tamlen said and shrugged._

_"Let's go see her then," Lenya said, "Are you coming, love?" She turned to speak towards the aravel she shared with Merrill._

_"A moment," Merrill's voice came from inside, "You've thrown my panties on the top shelf!" She added. Tamlen turned red and he retreated a bit further so he could not hear what more Merrill might say._

_"Sorry about that," Lenya said smiling. She had a vague memory of undressing Merrill at the night before. Like it had been a dream. Again she shook her head to clear it, but that almost unreal feeling stayed._

_"Let's go see what Marethari wants," Merrill said as she stepped out of the aravel._

_"I'm sorry, Merrill," Tamlen said as soon as he saw Merrill, "Don't turn me into a toad. Alesha would take that hard."_

_"Just because I like Alesha a lot, I will not turn you into a toad... this time," Merrill said, "And because it was not your fault really," She added as they walked through the camp. It wouldn't be long before the clan would need to move again. They had hunted on the surrounding areas nearly as much as it was safe to do without hurting the balance._

_"Ah, there you are," Marethari said when they got near the keepers aravel, "I hope you had a nice night?" _

_"We had, until you sent Tamlen to get us," Lenya muttered._

_"You can hardly call this a night, Lenya," Marethari said and motioned her hand to include the bright sunny sky, "I wanted to be the first to tell you that you are now relieved from the guard duty and can spend more time with Merrill."_

_When Marethari said the word duty, pain exploded in Lenya's mind and she collapsed onto the ground. Trying to hold her head together. Images flashed in her mind. Young human man, a Grey Warden, like she herself was. Beautiful red headed human woman, raven haired witch, stoic giant and a golem._

_"This..." Lenya said and her hands closed around the hilts of her weapons, weapons she did not had mere moments ago, "This... is... a... lie!" She lifted her eyes from the ground and stared at the people she loved. She could have handled any horror without hesitation, but this... this was more than cruel._

_"What are you saying my love?" Merrill asked and leaned towards her looking worried. She tried to avoid her touch._

_"Keeper, can you help her?" Merrill pleaded, worry clear in her voice, "She woke today like something had startled her and she's been acting a bit weirdly."_

_"Let me see, child," Marethari said, but when she tried to touch Lenya she lifted her sword in front of her. "Lenya? What are you doing?" Marethari asked and stepped back so the tip of the sword would not impale her._

_"Don't touch me," Lenya said and got up from the ground, "I am Lenya Mahariel, one of the remaining Grey Wardens in Ferelden and you are not what you appear to be," She said, "You will stand aside or I will kill you all," She threatened. From the corner of her eyes she saw how the rest of the clan was surrounding her._

_"You need to calm down, my love," Merrill said, but Lenya noticed she did not come closer. Instead rest of the clan was._

_"Put your sword down, Lenya," Tamlen said and reached out and tried to take her sword. Without thinking she moved and her sword went through the chest of her closest friend. Surprised expression in his face Tamlen looked down on his chest and at the sword that was now buried in it. Then he fell backwards and collapsed on the ground. There was faint shimmering around him and then he did not move anymore._

_Lenya stared at Tamlen's body and then at the bloodied sword in her hand. Did she just kill her best friend? - she thought - Did she make a mistake? - Her mind was clear, but at the same time it wasn't. She knew, without a doubt, who she was, but everything felt so real._

_"Look what you did, Lenya!" Merrill yelled at her, looking horrified. At the same time Lenya saw Marethari preparing a spell._

_"Stay away from me," Lenya ordered, "I don't want to kill you," And now her voice pleading._

_"We need to calm you down," Marethari said and released a spell towards her, but she'd fought against the darkspawn emissaries and blood mages often enough that she knew how to avoid spells like that. When she dodged the spell it seemed to be like some kind of signal to the rest of the clan and they tried to get a hold of her._

_The battle that followed was bloody. It was like her clan members did not even notice the fallen. Maybe they didn't. She did not know. Tears flowed down on her cheeks when she cut familiar faces down as they tried to get to her._

_Lenya noticed that they all seemed to be protecting Merrill. Whenever she stepped closer to Merrill all the remaining clan members moved to block her. She cursed. Merrill was the key to whatever was holding her in this nightmare._

_"Step back, Lenya," Marethari said and positioned herself between her and Merrill._

_"I am sorry, Keeper," Lenya said and started the fighting form that would end up with her killing the Keeper._

_"No, Lenya!" Merrill yelled as Lenya's sword found its target and slid through the chest of the keeper and pierced her heart. As the Keeper fell to the ground Lenya pulled her sword free. She turned to look at Merrill who was now the only one alive from her clan._

_"What ever you are, there is no place in this world, far enough or deep enough, for you to run or hide from me. As I will hunt you down and destroy you for what you've made me do here," Lenya said and stepped closer to Merrill who looked her with horrified eyes, "Forgive me, my love," She said, and even though she could barely see through the tears that were obscuring her view, she ran her sword through Merrill's chest like she'd done to the Keeper just moments ago._

_Lenya watched how the light in her lovers eyes dimmed and catched her body before it could fall down. "Forgive me..." She whispered and closed Merrill's unseeing eyes. As she held Merrill in her arms, world around her shifted and changed into something hazy._

_Lenya had no idea how long she just sat there, Merrill's body in her arms. Only barely registering what was around her, but finally she lowered the body gently on the ground and got up._

_She wiped her eyes dry and looked around her. The forest and aravels were gone, replaced by twisted looking growths or something and everything looked hazy. Dead bodies of her clan were still there just like Merrill's were. She had hoped they would change to whatever they truly were when they died. Sparing her from seeing what she'd done._

_Lenya picked up her sword from the ground and looked at it for a long while. Then she drove it to the ground and screamed. World around her shook and then glowing pedestal appeared in front of her._

_She got up and sheathed her weapon before she touched the pedestal._

_Someone was going to pay and pay dearly for what had happen here. Even if she'd need to burn the whole damn Beyond, in order to do it._

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Fade<strong>_

_World hadn't changed any clearer for Lenya after she'd used the pedestal. She'd met a man, Niall, who told her things about the part of the Beyond she was in. It was most likely that her companions were trapped same way she'd been._

_Niall had also given up. He was so convinced that he could not get away, that he did not even try. Lenya of course did not listen to him. There was always a way and by the Creators she would find it and bring some terror to the demon or demons who had brought her here. Then she would find this Uldred and feed his own innards to him._

_After Lenya left Niall uselessly standing where she'd found him, she stumbled on a rage demon who was trying to kill a talking mouse. When she killed the demon, the mouse gave her a power to change her form and also told her that she would need to kill Yevena, demoness who ruled this part of the ward that kept Lenya away from Sloth. She also accidentally found out she could heal herself by touching some spiky blue growths she suspected of being lyrium._

_Another visit to Niall, who seemed to get excited, when she told him that she could now change her form to a mouse. Now she could also use the pedestal to access the other parts of this place._

_"Of you go, save the world," Niall said to her._

_"Someone has to," Lenya said, "And there is a demon in the middle of this place who I owe a world of pain," Then the world turned black around her and she was on the other part of the fade._

_When Lenya opened her eyes she noticed some kind of glowing form in front of her. It beckoned her to touch it. It also felt right to her, so she did so. A glow surrounded her and she felt new strength coursing through her. She heard, like a whisper in her mind, "Others will help you as well," It seemed to say. She also saw other kind of glowing forms in her mind so she would know what to look for._

_Someone was helping her. Was these others who had been trapped inside here and been turned into these glowing forms or something else. She did not have the answers, but she knew that, she would not turn aside their help. They would give her strength, wisdom and more, so she could survive this place and end this nightmare._

_"Thank you," Lenya said and bowed towards the form that had stopped glowing, "I will end this," She promised._

* * *

><p><em>Lenya was getting stronger the further she ventured into the Sloth demons domain. She'd met other dreamers who'd lend her their strengths. Absorbed more of the glowing forms. She felt stronger, smarter, more agile and cunning. She also felt connection to the magic because of the one particular form. She could not cast spells, but she grew more resistant to them somehow.<em>

_Lenya could now change her form to a burning man, a golem and a some kind of floating demon. In that form she could see more than on others. Of course she still retained her ability to change to a mouse as well._

_When she destroyed the guardian demons one by one, more places opened up for her to go. She suspected that those were where her companions were. Considering what she'd went through in her own trap, Lenya was not eager to go see how others were tormented._

_But she had no choice in that. She did not know what would happen if she would kill the Sloth while they were still trapped inside. They might die and she could not allow that and because none of them had freed themselves it was up to her to do it._

_Sighing deeply Lenya touched the pedestal and send herself to one of the new areas._

* * *

><p><em>Area around Lenya was sharper than it was on other places in the Beyond. She could see the Beyond shifting through the illusion though, but whoever was here, was still trapped in it.<em>

_First thing Lenya heard was children laughing. She cursed. She did not want to end up killing children._

_As Lenya got closer she heard Alistair's voice talking with someone and then she heard a woman's voice answering him. Was Alistair imagining that he was married and these were his children? - Lenya thought - Would she have to kill children that Alistair thought were his?_

_Finally she saw them. Alistair was wearing a plain tunic and he was sitting on a stool and one of the children was sitting on his lap._

_"Hey!" Alistair said when he noticed her, "It's great to see you again," He added, so he at least remembered her, "I was just thinking about you... isn't it a marvelous coincident," More likely the demons made him think that since she was here._

_"This is my sister, Goldanna," Alistair says and that made Lenya sigh in relief. She still didn't want to kill the children, but at least those were not his. Not that it made much difference though. Alistair would be crushed, "These are her children, and there's more about somewhere. We're one big happy family," Yes, she had been happy as well. More than happy and then everything had been crushed because she saw through the illusion._

_Lenya knew, somehow, that she couldn't just go and kill these demons or it would harm Alistair as well. She would need to snap him out off the dream and then kill them. She had not been able to avoid killing her own clan, but she might be able to spare others from that fate._

_"They are demons you know," Lenya said in normal tone. She did not believe that it would be as simple as that, but it didn't hurt to try._

_"Oh, that's what everyone says about their relatives, but I've never been happier," Alistair laughed. She, on the other hand saw Goldanna fixing her eyes on her. She also could feel the children coming closer._

_"I'm overjoyed to get my little brother back," Goldanna said and her eyes seemed to glow. She would have growled at her, but that might send a wrong message to Alistair, "I'll never let him out of my sight again," Goldanna added and that was a clear threat to Lenya. Warning her to stay away. Too bad for the demon, Lenya had no intentions of doing so._

_"That's more than a bit creepy," Lenya said to Alistair._

_"There's nothing wrong with living with my sister," Alistair said defensibly, "I've never had a real family before," He added and Lenya could understand the need for the family. That had been what she'd wanted and that was what she had been forced to destroy. By the Creators, she would make the demon pay._

_"There is nothing wrong in wanting a family," Lenya said and turned her eyes to Goldanna. When their eyes met she could feel the demon's influence trying to get through to her mind and bind her again. Her blood started to boil because of that. Strength she had gained from the spirits of this place was more than match for the demon Goldanna. It knew it and it did not want to relinquish its hold of Alistair and only way it could compete with her was to make Alistair believe in the illusion more than he believed in her._

_"Well, is your friend going to stay for supper?" Goldanna asked from Alistair, but she didn't take her eyes from Lenya's._

_"Say you'll stay!" Alistair said excitedly, "Goldanna is a great cook!" He continued, "Maybe she'll make her mince pie. You can can't you?" He then asked from Goldanna._

_"Of course, dear brother. Anything for you," Goldanna said._

_"I can't stay and you shouldn't either, Alistair," Lenya said._

_"You are acting really strangely," Alistair said and it took every shred of Lenya's willpower not to hit him and yell that being forced to kill her own clan tended to do that to her._

_Instead of hitting and yelling at him, she made Alistair think of what really had happened. As it has been in her own case he did remember bits of that, but not everything and it made him hesitant to believe the illusion. In the end it came to the fight again._

_When the fight started Lenya cut Goldanna down before Alistair had his sword fully out. She had been able to spare him from that fate. Unlike in her dream the children did not stay as such, but they turned into demons. Maybe it was because Alistair had never actually known them. Whatever was the case, she was glad. Shem or not she did not want to kill children._

_"G-Goldanna?" Alistair said in shocked voice when the fight was over and the demons illusion was broken. Even the body of Goldanna's had changed to a demon body. She envied Alistair for that. He did not have to see all he'd ever loved dead around him. Killed by his own hand, "I can't believe it. How did I not see through this earlier?"_

_"Because it's something you wanted," Lenya said, "Believe me, I know how it is to want something so badly."_

_"Yes... uh, well," Alistair said and looked a bit embarrassed, "Try not to tell everyone how easily fooled I was."_

_"Don't worry about it," Lenya said, "Let's go. Others are still trapped in here," As she was speaking she saw a shimmer around Alistair and then he started to fade out._

_"Great," Lenya sighed, "Still alone," She'd hoped that she would not have to face others dreams alone, but obviously someone wanted to torment her._

_Still cursing she went back to the pedestal and traveled to other part of the Beyond._

* * *

><p><em>Lenya knew immediately whose dream she was in now. There was only one of her companions who might dream of being in the Korgari Wilds.<em>

_"Morrigan," She muttered._

_As she walked closer to the Asha'bellanar's hut she heard how she was trying to be a loving mother to Morrigan. That made Lenya shake her head. This demon was a dimwit. There was no way Morrigan would believe in something like this and when she heard Morrigan's reply she got a confirmation. Morrigan knew she was in the Beyond. Why hadn't she got this idiot of an demon to hold her in here instead of the one she had got._

_"Ah, finally," Morrigan said when she saw Lenya, "You took your time I see."_

_"Sorry, I didn't get a dimwit demon to hold me in here like you did," She snarled at her, "Nor did I get education from the Asha'bellanar that would have told me what to do when a powerful demon traps me in the Beyond."_

_Morrigan was about to say something snarky to her, she just knew it, but then the witch took another look at her and shut her mouth. Which was wise of her. Lenya was not in a mood for Morrigan's usual comments, "Let's kill that thing and be off with this. I assume that I still need to save others."_

_"'Tis my pleasure," Morrigan said and hit her mother with a spell. Asha'bellanar's form changed and a demon replaced her. It didn't take long for them to kill it and when that was done Morrigan disappeared, just like Alistair had._

_"I hate this place," Lenya muttereds as she went to the pedestal and activated it._

* * *

><p><em>Next one she found was Abelas. She didn't quite understand what the dream was all about, but only thing she had to do to break the demon's hold was to call him. Connection they had, made the demons attempts to control him pointless. It couldn't influence Abelas to believe it more than he did believe in her. As with the others he disappeared when the fight was over, but she could feel him in the Beyond.<em>

_After that she walked into the camp of the qunari. Like Morrigan, Sten also knew that he was in the Beyond. He'd chosen to stay there, with his fallen comrades, but it didn't take much persuasion from her to get him come with her. Duty, was what made him follow Lenya and she respected that. Duty was what moved her as well._

_When Sten disappeared she wasn't even surprised anymore. Because of her bond to Abelas she felt him with her even though she could not see him, so she suspected that others were tied to her someway as well._

* * *

><p><em>The next dream had to be Wynne's. No one else of her companions would imagine being in the Circle Tower.<em>

_When she saw Wynne she was standing in the midst of dead apprentices. That really was not what she'd expected to find. All other demons had tried to make their captives happy, but she couldn't deny that this morbid dream was working. Wynne obviously believed in it. She on the other hand saw only demons. Her senses were getting sharper and it didn't require any effort on her part to see through the illusions anymore._

_"Maker forgive me. I failed them all. They died and I did not stop it," Wynne said, speaking to herself. Obviously since everyone else were dead to her._

_"What's all this?" Lenya asked and drew Wynne's attention to her._

_"Death. Can you not see it? It's all around us," Wynne said._

_"Oh, I see that. I just don't believe in it," Lenya shrugged. "You're in the Bey... in the Fade," She could have been talking to a wall and it might have had more impact though._

_"Why was I spared, if not to help them? What use is my life now that I have failed in the task that was given me?" Wynne continued her monologue, "Leave me to my grief. I shall bury their bones and scatter their ashes to the four winds, and mourn their passing until I too am dead."_

_"That's a bit morbid don't you think?" Lenya asked, "Anyway, I find it hard to feel sympathy for demons," She added. She knew she was cruel, but she also knew that it was needed. Kindness would not snap the old mage out of her misery._

_"Your blatant disregard for the souls of the dead strikes me as being utterly inappropriate," Wynne said and Lenya saw what she was looking for... a spark of who Wynne really was._

_"Well, they're not dead so why should I feel sorry about them?" Lenya asked._

_"I do not know what you are trying to tell me. Why must you make this more painful?" Wynne asked and then she turned to look at her looking furious, "And where were you when this happened? I trusted you as an ally and you were nowhere to be found."_

_"Oh no!" Lenya spat out and now she was angry. Who this old harpy was to accuse of her for things like that, "You don't blame this one on me, you old harpy. You're supposed to be a mage and you can't even tell a difference of the real world and the Fade."_

_"The Fade?" Wynne said sounding confused, "I... had not considered that. I had always had an affinity to the Fade, and I would assume I would be able to recognize it."_

_"Well, aren't you a genius," Lenya scoffed. She was still mad about the accusations, "Obviously you didn't recognize it," She added nastily and studied Wynne as she struggled to remember._

_"Perhaps some time away from this place help me remember clearly," Wynne said finally._

_"Sounds like a damn good idea," Lenya said and kept her eyes on the dead apprentices. They started to move as soon as Wynne had made her decision to leave._

_"Don't leave us, Wynne. We don't want to be alone," The dead apprentice said and started to get up from the ground._

_"Holy Maker!" Wynne gasped, "Stay away, foul creature!" She waved her hand._

_"Told you it isn't real," Lenya couldn't help herself. For some reason Wynne annoyed her a lot. She readied her weapons and waited until the demons attacked before she cut them down. She didn't want Wynne to think that she had started the fight._

_When the fight was over Wynne turned towards her, "Is it over?" Wynne asked and Lenya nodded, "Thank the Maker for you. Wait... what's happening? Where are you going?" And then she was gone, like the others._

_"Damned Maker again," Lenya muttered annoyed. She really didn't like it, that whatever she did, the Maker got all the credits of it, "I hate shems and their blasted Chantry and their damned Maker!" She yelled to the empty Fade around her. It did make her feel a bit better._

* * *

><p><em>"Well, isn't this lovely." Lenya muttered as she stepped inside the Chantry. There was no question whose dream this was. Not that there was any other choices left anyway. Leliana being the last one of her companions still trapped, "If they want me to learn the chant in order for her to get free from here, we are so in trouble," Lenya muttered as she heard Leliana's voice siting the chant. At least she thought it was the chant.<em>

_"Ah, Leliana. Praying the Maker I see," Lenya said when she saw Leliana. She was kneeling towards the statue of Andraste and swaying back and forth as she spoke the chant._

_"Blessed- what?" Leliana lifted her head and looked at her, "Who are you?" She asked and for some reason it felt really bad that Leliana did not recognize her._

_"I beg you, do not disturb the girl's meditations," Old woman said and came to stand near Leliana. She noticed that it kept Leliana between them. Like a shield. It couldn't make it more clear that it was the one she would need to kill in order to free Leliana._

_"Revered mother, I do not know this person," Leliana said and again that bad feeling shot through Lenya. She didn't understand it. She'd expected some of them not to recognize her, because she had not until her mind cleared, but Leliana not knowing her felt bad._

_"The Fade is playing tricks on your mind," Lenya said._

_"I'm sorry, but I- I don't what you are talking about," Leliana said and she was truly sorry about it._

_"Please do not vex her. She needs quiet and solitude to calm her mind and to heal her heart," The revered mother said. She could see its fear of her and its hunger for Leliana. It knew of her dislike of humans and the Chantry and it was relying on those to keep Leliana for not recognizing her._

_"Leliana, listen to me, please," Lenya pleaded, "This isn't real," She added and then shook her head. Why was she pleading like that? - She thought - Was the Fade again influencing her? - She didn't feel any control over her though. No conflicts in her mind, but for some reason she did act differently towards Leliana, than she thought she should._

_"Isn't real? I don't understand," Leliana said and there was pained expression in her face. She was fighting the influence, but couldn't break through it alone._

_Lenya brought in her mind all the things Leliana had said about herself and to her shock, she could remember everything. Every little detail Leliana had told her when she had tried to get to know her better._

_"Don't you remember why you left the cloister?" Lenya asked then and saw furious expression on the Revered Mother's face. Lenya grinned at her._

_"I remember... there was a sign," Leliana said and her face brightened a bit._

_"Leliana, we have discussed of this... 'sign' of yours. The Maker does not care to interfere in the affairs of the mortals," The Revered Mother said and then it fixed its eyes on Lenya's. They were glowing, "This 'vision' was most likely the work of demons," She continued._

_Lenya knew that she'd won already. She did not agree with Leliana's views of the Chantry, but she knew that Leliana believed in her vision and she believed in it so strongly that she'd left the cloister for it. Joined with her and Alistair because of it. Even though Lenya had not treated her well. Nothing the demon could have said would have not made it more easier for Lenya to break its hold on Leliana._

_"Do not listen to her. Trust in what you know," Leliana said._

_"The Maker cares for us. I believe He misses his wayward children as much as we miss Him. My vision may not be from him, but it guides me to do what is right," Leliana said and straightened up, "My Revered Mother knew this. I don't know who you are, but you're not her," She added then._

_Lenya grinned at the demon who was now furious at her, "She's a demon in disguise, here to deceive you," She said, moving as she spoke, so Leliana would not be between her and the demon anymore._

_"Let us leave," Leliana said, "My head is still not cleared, but there is something familiar about you and I believe that... I trust you," She said and that made Lenya's grin even wider - what was wrong with her? - Why was she so happy that Leliana trusted her?_

_The demon made one last attempt to sway Leliana, but it was no use. She believed Lenya more than it._

_"You're going nowhere girl!" The demon said finally, "I will not permit it!" Then it tried to grab Leliana's arm, but Lenya blocked its way._

_"You can't command her any longer, demon," Lenya said and unsheathed her sword, "She is free."_

_"No.. she is ours, now and forever!" The demon said and attacked. Lenya was ready for that though and slashed it's body as it shifted to it's own form. She heard Leliana gasp behind her, but soon arrows buried themselves into the demon._

_"Holy... Maker... she was a..." Leliana said after the fight was over and the demon dead._

_"A demon, yes," Lenya finished the sentence for her._

_"Ugh... my heads feel heavy. Like I've just woken from a terrible nightmare," Leliana said and then shook her head to clear it, "I believe we had... some task to accomplish. Let us be on our way - Wait, what's happening to me?" She asked as she faded out._

_"See you soon. I hope," Lenya said when Leliana had disappeared completely._

_It was time to go face the Sloth demon. She couldn't wait to cut that cursed thing to a pieces and then... then she would get nasty._

* * *

><p><em>When Lenya used the pedestal to take her to the center of the area. She was ready to fight, but nothing jumped at her.<em>

_Lenya saw the Sloth demon ahead and that the thing was studying her. She sensed its tries to influence her and its fear when those failed. She was stronger than she'd been when it had trapped her here. Much stronger._

_"What do we have here? A rebellious minion? An escaped slave?" The Sloth demon said and then it laughed._

_"I'm the avatar of your destruction," Lenya said and fixed her eyes on the demons. She could feel others appearing behind her, "I am the vengeance made flesh and there is no place for you to hide from me anymore. I will tear the price of what you did to me out off your hide."_

_"My, my... but you have some gall," The demon said._

_"You don't know the half of what I have," Lenya spat out, "You will pay and there is nothing, you pathetic little demon, can do to stop me," She snarled. She could hear the others saying something, but she couldn't make out the words. Her whole world was now red and it was focused on one single spot. To the Sloth Demon._

_"If you go back quietly. I'll do better this time. I'll make you much happier," The demon said and Lenya could feel its influence trying to sway her and her companions again, but she was beyond anything the demon could do to her and she projected that shield to others as well._

_"Only thing you will give to me is your bleeding, battered corpse, in pieces," Lenya said and she could feel the demons frustration as its attempts to control her and her companions were thwarted._

_"I made you happy and safe. I gave you peace. I did my best for you and you say you want to leave," The demon said, "Can't you think about someone other than yourself? I'm hurt, so very hurt."_

_"That's a start," Lenya said, "Now if you could be hurting a bit more. Like in dying agony of the thousand deaths," She added, "Go on, fulfill my wishes," She lifted her eyes to the demons again. The fear was visible to anyone now._

_"You wish to battle me?" The demon asked, "So be it... you will learn to bow down to your betters mortal," It added and then it changed to a bigger form and charged._

_Lenya had been waiting something like that and willed herself to the golem form. She heard the surprised gasps of her companions, but didn't care about them. This was between her and the Sloth._

_They changed blows and she could feel the health of the demon falter. Chips flew from her own rocky skin as the demon clawed at her, but it couldn't hurt her and soon it realized that as well and changed again._

_Now Lenya was facing a rage demon and it's attacks scorched her skin and started to affect on her health, "Nice try," She said and shifted as well. Her golem form was replaced with the form of the burning man. Immune to the fiery attacks the demon was throwing at her. She sensed the hesitation from her own companions though. They continued to hit the Sloth, but they were also wary of her._

_Then the demon shifted again. Now it looked like the abomination that had been guarding one of his wards. Lenya shifted back to her own form and continued the attack on it._

_"What...?" Alistair tried to ask as they fought the demon side by side._

_"I'll explain later," Lenya replied and then the demon was changing again, "Now, two can play that," She said to the demon when she recognized the floating demon form and then she changed to match that form._

_The demon had made a mistake now. It had chosen form that was vulnerable to the physical attacks. If it had been against Lenya alone it might have done some good to it, but now all it's frost spells were spent on the magic resistance Lenya had on this form. While Alistair, Sten, Abelas and Leliana attacked it with swords, teeth and arrows._

_When Lenya saw that the strength of the demon was nearly spent she changed back to her own form and drove her sword through the chest of it. Keeping her eyes locked on its eyes, she twisted her sword and buried her dagger into the demon as well. Then she pulled her arms wide and cut the demon in two. After that she dismembered the corpse before she cut its head off._

_No one dared to approach her. She could feel their emotions somehow. They were wary of her and little bit afraid of her as well._

_"You... you defeated the demon," Lenya heard Niall's voice say and then the man appeared in front of her, "I never expected you to free yourself, to free us both."_

_"That is why you couldn't do it yourself," Lenya said to him._

_Niall nodded, "When you return... take the Litany of Adralla from my... body. It will protect you from the worst of the blood magic."_

_"Your body?" Lenya asked. She must have heard wrong._

_"I cannot go with you. I've been here far too long," Niall said, "For you it will have been an afternoon nap. Your body won't have wasted away in the real world while your spirit lay in the hands of a demon."_

_"You think you are going to die?" Lenya asked._

_Niall smiled a sad smile at her and explained how there was too little of him left to return, "My only regret is that I could not save the Circle. But you... you can," He said finally, "Take the Litany from my... my body, when you return. It's important."_

_"I will do this," Lenya promised him. He might have given up too easily here, but he was not a coward, "May Falon'din guide you on your journey here," She crossed her hands over her heart and bowed._

_"Thank you and good bye... friend," Niall said and then he faded away and the darkness fell on Lenya and for the others._

* * *

><p><strong>The Circle Tower<strong>

When Leliana opened her eyes she heard a thud, as the body the Sloth demon had in this world fell to the floor.

Leliana couldn't believe they've survived all that. It was all thanks to Lenya. She had found them all from the Fade and saved them from their nightmares. She got up and tried to find Lenya. It was not hard. Lenya was standing over the Sloth demons body and kicked at it.

Leliana remembered what Lenya had said to the demon before the fight had started. What had Lenya been made to see? It must have been bad for her to act like that.

Leliana looked around more and found out that everyone was looking at Lenya and that no one was brave enough to go to her.

Finally Leliana shrugged and cautiously walked to Lenya, "Are you alright?" She asked. What a stupid thing to ask – She thought - Anyone could see that she wasn't.

"Do I look like I'm alright, Leliana?" Lenya asked, her voice was flat.

"No, you don't," She admitted, "You look like hell," She added then.

"Thank you," Lenya scoffed and then she did something stunning and lifted the demons body from the ground and threw it at the wall, "Ah, didn't help as much I thought it might," Then Lenya turned to look at her, "What?" Lenya asked curiously when she notices Leliana's mouth was hanging open. Lenya had just lifted a huge demon body and thrown it at the wall like it weighted nothing, "What are you all staring at?" Lenya asked and then scoffed again, "Never mind, I don't want to know," She shook her head, "Wynne, you take the Litany and use it when needed."

"As you wish," Wynne said and gave Leliana a look. Yes, they had all seen the same. Lenya seemed to be stronger.

"Ok, we've slept enough. Time to go rip Uldred to pieces," Lenya said and her eyes shined with fury. Then she headed further inside to tower.

As they followed her, she thought that she would not want to be in Uldred's pants at the moment. Lenya was royally pissed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And we're done with the Fade. I knew early that Fade would be hard on Lenya. Still it was emotionally hard to write it.**

**I felt there was need for some explanation for the ability increase founts you find from the Fade and I did want to include the fact that the Warden gets stronger, wiser and so on to the story. So I introduced the founts as some sort of sentient forms that help Lenya by given their strengths to her.**

**Also, I did consider writing more detailed smexy time with Merrill at the beginning, but in the end decided against it. Mainly because I felt it wasn't needed and also because I've never really written any. That may change later on, but no promises.**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you did enjoy the chapter and my version of the Fade.**

**As always reviews are very welcome.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Chapter 12 is here. The end of the quest in the Circle Tower nears it's end.**

**I wish to thank all you who've been reading Lenya's story this far. Special thanks to those who faved and/or alerted. Very special thanks to those who reviewed. My deepest gratitude goes to Faelan for the support and encouragements. Hugs to you my dear friend.**

**Dragon age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware. Things you don't belong to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

******Update, November 2013: Grammar and other errors fixed.******

* * *

><p><strong>The Circle tower<strong>

It became clear to Leliana very soon, after their survival in the hands of the Sloth, that Lenya had gained something from the Fade. Unlike the rest of them, Lenya was fresh, if such a word could even be used in this case. She looked like she'd rested for days.

Lenya also seemed stronger and faster than she'd been before their encounter with the Sloth and then she was also in a state of constant fury, demons she met had no chance at all. She cut them down with brutal efficiency.

Leliana knew that something bad had happen to Lenya in the Fade. Something really bad and, unlike everyone else, she'd been there alone to face it. No one to help her.

"That demon really pissed her off," Alistair said to Leliana as he pulled his sword out of the demon he'd killed. He'd intercepted one demon who had got past Lenya and had tried to attack the mages and Leliana.

Leliana lifted her eyes and searched for Lenya. She was a bit farther in the corridor and just finished cutting a demon in half.

"I don't think that is accurate enough description of how she is," Leliana said, "Look at her."

"I try not to," Alistair shook his head and there was pained expression on his face. It was obvious that he didn't like to see his fellow Warden like that, "I know those are demons she is hacking to pieces, but I can't watch her doing that."

"That will burn itself up sooner or later," Wynne said and sent a healing spell to Lenya, "In the meanwhile try to keep an eye on her. She is really efficient, but one slip and she could die."

"I know that, Wynne, believe me, I know that," Alistair sighed.

"This is not a weaving circle," Lenya's voice interrupted them and she was coming towards them and wiping the demon blood out of her sword as she did so.

"I know that, Lenya, but not all of us are empowered like you are," Alistair said back to her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lenya asked suspiciously and sheathed her sword.

"You haven't noticed?" Alistair asked incredulously.

"Noticed what?" Lenya asked impatiently.

"You are stronger, faster and who knows what else, than you were before we got trapped in the Fade. You also look like you've slept for weeks," Alistair explained.

Lenya stared at him incredulously and then her expression changed to thoughtful, "Hmm, I thought their help would have ended when I got out of the Beyond."

"Whose help?" Wynne asked, her voice now serious.

"I don't know. There were these glowing forms in there. When I saw the first one, I got one of my feelings and touched it. I absorbed the essence, whatever it was, and those granted me things. Strength, dexterity, wisdom and stuff like that. Whatever those were, they helped me to counter the demons influence in there."

"What exactly happen when you touched the first one?" Wynne demanded.

"I absorbed the glow from it and heard a voice that said. 'Others will help you as well.' and then I saw other similar glowing forms in my mind. I absorbed all those as I searched for the demons and the way to free you," Lenya explained.

"Wait a minute, Wynne," Alistair said, "You suspect she's possessed?"

"No, Alistair," Wynne shook her head, "Whatever helped her, it was not a demon. Other dreamers who'd already died there and were trapped by the Sloth perhaps. They helped her only way they could. Infusing their strengths to her."

"That's what I assumed they were," Lenya shrugged, "I did expect the abilities they gave me to disappear when I got the Sloth destroyed though."

"No, such things can't be undone," Wynne said, "Their strengths are now part of you. Your strengths."

"I did not want to steal their strengths," Lenya said looking a bit uneasy.

"You didn't," Wynne assured her, "They gave them freely so you could free them by destroying Sloth."

"If you say so," Lenya said, but she still looked a bit uneasy. Then she shrugged, "There is some one muttering to himself on the next room. Can't make out the words though."

Leliana watched as Lenya lead them to the next room. Lenya moved like a cat. Her slender frame moving with a deadly elegance that made her muscles ripple. Lenya's armor did not cover much of her skin so Leliana had a very good view of those muscles.

"You might want to spare that ogling, Leliana, to the times when we are not in danger," Morrigan said and Leliana snapped her eyes from Lenya. It was embarrassing to get caught as she admired Lenya. Even more so when it was Morrigan who caught her. Morrigan's barbs were biting and often cruel.

"I am just worried about her," Leliana said.

"Yes, I'm sure you are," Morrigan said and studied her with those golden eyes. She did not say anything further, but she didn't need to. She'd made her point already. Whatever it was.

"Are you two coming or not?" Lenya called after them. She was waiting near the door to the next room.

"We're coming," Leliana said and hurried to the others. She heard Morrigan chuckle behind her, but she ignored it.

* * *

><p>When they stepped inside the room they were greeted by a glowing wall that seemed to trap a templar inside it. Templar in question was kneeling and muttering words. Probably that chant of theirs.<p>

"Well, look at that," Lenya said, "That one still looks like a human."

At the sound of her voice the man looked up, "This trick again? I know what you are. It won't work, I will stay strong..." He said and continued to mutter the chant.

Lenya glanced at her companions and then shrugs, "What wont work?" She asked curiously. The man just ignored her though.

"The boy is exhausted," Wynne said, "And this cage... I've never seen anything like it," Then she turned to the templar, "Rest easy. The help is here," She said sounding all motherly.

"I wouldn't go that far," Lenya muttered. Who knows if the man was even a man anymore.

"Enough visions. If anything in you is human... kill me now and stop this game," The templar said.

"Well, no such luck there my dear madman. Nothing in me is human," Lenya said smiling.

"Lenya!" Wynne said, sounding horrified.

"What?" Lenya asked and turned to look at the old mage, "I'm an elf so nothing in me is human and he did ask, if anything in me is human, I should kill him."

"I think he meant if there is demon inside you," Alistair said. He was trying to keep a straight face, but his lips were curling up in a smile.

"Not my fault he's on idiot," Lenya shrugged.

"He's delirious," Leliana said her voice full of sympathy, "He's been torture... and has probably denied food and water. I can tell," She continued. Well, that was interesting - Lenya thought - Did she know that by having suffered it or because she'd caused it. Sympathy in her voice would suggest the former, "Here, I have skin of..." Leliana started and tried to go closer to the muttering templar.

"Don't touch me! Stay away!" The man yelled, "Filthy blood mages... getting in my head... I will not break... I rather die."

"Snap out of it," Lenya ordered him harshly, "I've no time for these games."

"Silence! I won't listen anything you say. Now begone!" The man ordered and closed his eyes.

"Not going to happen, but nice try," Lenya said. If the man was possessed, he was making nice show of not convincing her to believe he wasn't.

"Still here? But that's always worked before. I close my eyes and you're still here when I open them," The templar said confused after he opened his eyes again.

"Well... I know many shems, most of them dead now, that have wished me to be just a figment of their imagination," Lenya said, "Didn't work on them either."

The man watched her warily. Clearly trying to figure Lenya out. She wished him luck with that, "Don't blame me for being cautious. The voices... the images... so real..." He said finally, "Did Greagoir send you? How... how did you get here?"

"Well, unlike you templars, I can actually fight and don't succumb to the first temptation I see," Lenya replied, "So I just defeated everything in my way and now it's Uldred's turn," She could feel her voice changing when she spoke Uldred's name. She had not thought she could hate anyone so much. Yes, it had been Sloth who'd made her see all the things, she did in the Beyond, but it was all Uldred's fault.

"Good... kill Uldred. Kill them all for what they've done!" The templar said fervently, "They caged us like animals... looked ways to break us. I'm the only one left."

"Well, what the hell can you expect?" Lenya asked angrily, "That's what you've been doing to them for years."

"Not now, Lenya," Alistair said behind her and touches her shoulder. She'd not even notice she was shaking until he touched her.

The templar had not heard her outburst though, "They turned some into... monsters. And... there was nothing I could do."

Lenya studied the man a long while, "Uldred will pay for what he's done," She said finally. She couldn't care less, what he'd done to the templars, but she cared a lot what he'd done to her.

"To think I once felt pity for the Circle. Now I'd like nothing more than wipe their taint off the face of Thedas," The templar said and he lost every bit of pity Lenya had felt for him. This kind of raving lunatic would be better of dead. Fortunately for him the cage he was in, prevented her from killing him.

"Where are the other mages? The survivors," Lenya asked instead. Biting back the angry words.

"What others? What are you talking about?" The man asked.

"Irving and the other mages who fought against Uldred. Where are they?" Wynne asked.

"They are in the Harrowing chamber. The sounds coming from there... Oh, Maker..." The templar replied and shiver ran through him.

"We must hurry. They are in grave danger. I'm sure of it," Wynne said to Lenya and she nodded. It was pretty sure they were not just having tea up there.

"You can't save them!" The templar said forcibly, "You don't know what they've become."

"And you do?" Lenya asked sarcastically. Why was she even listening this raving madman?

"They've been surrounded b-by blood mages whose wicked fingers snake into your mind and corrupt your thoughts," The templar said.

Lenya heard Alistair muttering something about hatred for mages being intense, but she ignored him, "He's suffered pain and anguish like few have had to endure. That and his lust for revenge have confused the issue..." Wynne said and that certainly got reaction out of the caged man.

"Do not presume to judge me, Mage!" He roared, "I am thinking clearly- for perhaps the first time in my life."

"Yes, too bad you might be possessed, so everything you say is in question," Lenya said, "You are lucky that you are in that cage or I would kill you. If you're not possessed you are unstable and you don't let mad people running around with swords in their hands."

"But... but, I'm not possessed!" The man protested.

"Well, forgive me if I don't just believe your word for it," Lenya snorted, "Let's leave him in there to chew on the fact that he might be as much monster as all the mages he wants to kill," She added and ignored the man in the cage completely.

"You really think he's possessed?" Leliana asked as they climbed the stairs.

"It's as likely that he is, than that he isn't," Lenya replied, "As I said, if he's not, he is still dangerous. He doesn't recognize friends from foes and I wouldn't let man like that anywhere near those children for example."

"I see," Leliana said her voice thoughtful.

Lenya shook her head slightly. Leliana was really intent on finding possible redemption for everyone they encountered. It was admirable, but also foolish. Not everyone was worthy of the chance to redeem themselves.

They continued to climb the stairs in silence. Sounds they heard from above made them climb faster. Whatever was up there had to be stopped.

* * *

><p><strong>Harrowing Chamber<strong>

When they opened the last door, chanting and ungodly noises got clearer. Light flickered ahead of them as they climbed the last steps up to room.

They were greeted with a show that would haunt Leliana for the rest of her life. There was a man who seemed to be giving the orders to the abominations around him and they were torturing a mage. She could tell that the mage was about to give in.

As they watched the man leading the demons spoke, "Do you accept the gifts I offer?" He asked from the tortured mage who was now hanging in the air. Leliana saw the man nod.

The leader, Uldred most likely, and the abominations started some incantation and directed it to the helpless mage on the floor. And right before their eyes they saw him changing into the abomination.

"Ok, time to cut them to pieces before they make even more of those things," Lenya said and stepped towards the abominations. Leliana would have stopped her, but couldn't quite move her hands.

"Ah, look what we have here. An intruder. I bid you welcome," The leader of the demons said, "Care to join our revels?"

"I'll pass on that, Uldred," Lenya said, "Now... Sloth already paid his price. Now it's your turn."

"Fight if you must. It will just make my victory all the sweeter," Uldred said and then noticed that Lenya was chuckling, "What are you laughing?" He asked looking irritated.

"I was just about to say the same thing to you," Lenya said and unsheathed her weapons, "Alistair and Sten, take the abominations. Sten, protect the mages if needed. Leliana and Morrigan, shoot what I am attacking. Wynne keep us alive and do what is needed with the Litany," She quickly gave them orders.

As they fanned out to attack targets Lenya had told them to attack, something was happening with Uldred. He was glowing now and then blinding light burst out and he was replaced with an huge demon. Lenya, who was advancing toward him at the time did not even slow down.

Lenya attacked the demon furiously. Dancing around it as she avoided its attempts to hit her. Abelas who of course attacked what his mistress did, kept attacking the legs of the demon. Since the demon was so big Leliana could easily shoot at it without fearing she might hit Lenya as well.

Alistair and Sten made short work of the abomination and then joined Lenya as she cut the demon down, piece by piece.

Then the demon did something and frost shot out around it. Slowing down all the attackers. Wynne started a spell to counter that, but Leliana saw it would come too late. The demon lifted its hand and was about to slam crushing blow to Lenya.

"No you don't," Leliana uttered and drew her bow in a flash. Her arrow pierced one of the demons eyes and it roared in anger. It's slam continued down towards Lenya, but it wasn't going to hit her straight on anymore. Leliana still winced when the blow connected to Lenya's side and she slid away from the demon.

Wynne got her spell released and the frost disappeared from Lenya and other melee fighters. Leliana saw how Lenya got up and spat blood and then how Wynne's other spell reached her and healed some of her wounds.

Meanwhile the demon was now furious and was moving towards Leliana. It used that frost thing again and then ignored Sten, Alistair and Abelas completely as their movements slowed. Determined to get to her. Leliana continued to fire arrow after arrow to it, but those seemed to do nothing to halt its advance.

One swat from the demon and Leliana's bow broke making her stagger backwards and stumble on the body that was lying behind her. As she fell, she was, for the first time in a long while, scared as the demon lifted its hand for the strike that would surely end her life.

"No time for waiting to get crushed," Lenya's voice said from somewhere and then Leliana was pushed away. Snapping her eyes open Leliana now saw Lenya taking the blow that was meant for her, "No!" She whispered as the demons arm came down towards Lenya.

She saw everything in a slow motion. She saw how Lenya braced herself for the impact and how she staggered backwards from it, but Lenya did not fall down. Instead she used the momentum the blow gave her and brought her sword around and sliced the arm off from the demon.

Deafening roar hurt Leliana's ears. The demon was now moving backwards away from Lenya who stood between her and the demon like some kind of mythical heroine. She whirled her sword once and black liquid dripped from it's blade.

"Did you think I will just kill you, Uldred?" Lenya asked as she advanced towards the demon, "Oh no, you owe me much more pain than just losing your arm causes," Then Lenya advanced faster, almost blindingly fast, and jumped. Her sword was pointed towards the chest of the demon and there was nothing it could do to stop that strike connecting.

Another roar deafened Leliana as the blade, driven by the momentum of Lenya's speed and packed up with her weight, sunk to the demons chest, all the way to its hilt and then, slowly the demon fell backwards pulling Lenya with it.

"Yes, Uldred," Leliana heard Lenya say, "You owe me a world of pain, but not with the price of my friends lives," Then Lenya buried her dagger into the demons head.

"You really should stop killing big enemies like that," Alistair said to Lenya when she jumped off from the body.

"It works," Lenya shrugged and walked towards Leliana, "Are you alright, Leliana?" Lenya asked and offered her hand to pull her up.

"I... I'm... I'm unharmed," Leliana managed to say as Lenya pulled her up, "You saved my life," She then added.

"As you did mine when you shot that arrow into his eye," Lenya said smiling.

"But... but you put yourself between me and it," Leliana knew she was a bit hysterical. Adrenaline was leaving her body and the near death experience rattled her, "You took the blow that was meant for me."

"Well..." Lenya said and then she lowered her eyes, "I've lost too much already," And after that she just turned around and went to the mage who seemed to study them.

"Maker, I'm too old for this," The mage said.

"It wasn't so nice for the younger ones either," Leliana heard Lenya say.

"From what you had to do to get here, I don't doubt it," The mage chuckled weakly.

"Irving, are you alright?" Wynne asked and hurried to the man.

"I've..." The mage, Irving, grunted in pain, "... been better. But I am thankful to be alive. I suppose that is your doing, isn't it, Wynne?"

"I wasn't alone. I had help," Wynne said and glanced at Lenya.

"I noticed," Irving said, "Most impressive young woman," He then added, "The Circle owes both of you a debt we can never repay," He bowed a little to Lenya who just crosses her hand over her heart and nodded, "Come, the templars await. We shall let them know that the tower is once again ours."

"Very well," Lenya said, "Lead on."

"I'll need you to guide me down the stairs... Ah, curse to whoever insisted that the Circle be housed in a tower," Irving said as he slowly started to walk towards the stairs.

"I couldn't agree for more," Lenya said, "I've had more than enough of the towers already myself, but with my luck going as it is, I doubt this will be the last," She added a bit bitterly, "Oh well, at least I didn't get shot full of arrows this time. That would have sucked."

"Instead you got pummeled by a Pride demon," Irving said, sounding amused.

"Pride demon?" Lenya said curiously, "That's what Uldred became?" She asked and Irving nodded at her, "It was bigger than the ogre we killed on our last tower," Lenya then mused, "Alistair, what do you think we find on top of the next tower?" She yelped behind her.

"I... I don't want to even think about it," Alistair said.

When they got to the room where the templar had been caged it was empty.

"Damn, it was too much to hope the idiot was still here," Lenya said, "We better hurry down before he gets a chance to do harm."

* * *

><p><strong>Circle Tower, ground floor<strong>

It only took Irving vouching that everything was alright for Greagoir to open the door and letting them out of the tower. Lenya questioned his competence again. She was glad that they were out of the tower, but as a guardians against the mages these templars were damn poor ones.

"Irving! Maker's breath, I did not expect to see you alive," Greagoir said when he saw them.

"It is over, Greagoir," Irving said, "Uldred... is dead."

Before Greagoir had time to say anything the templar, who had been caged, interrupted them. He was alive now, only because it might have looked bad if Lenya had killed him when the other templars were watching, "Uldred tortured these mages, hoping to break their wills and turn them into abominations. We don't know how many of them are turned," He said fervently.

"What? Don't be ridiculous!" Irving exclaimed.

"Of course he'll say that! He might be a blood mage! Don't you know what they did? I won't let it happen again," The young templar insisted. His eyes were wide and if Lenya ever had needed more proof that he was unstable she just got it.

"I am the Knight-Commander here, not you, Cullen," Greagoir said to the young man.

"I agree with Irving," Lenya said, "If there is anyone who is in question it's him," She added and pointed at the young templar, Cullen, "Mages are taught to resist demons. He is not. Every templar I saw in the tower that wasn't dead, was possessed or controlled by demons. For him to be only one who resisted is a damn convenient. He is also only one who seem to want to kill everything. So if he's not possessed he is dangerous madman and I would have killed him already, but it would have looked bad to behead him in front of you."

"What? That's ridiculous!" Cullen bursted out. Repeating the same thing Irving just had.

Lenya chuckled at him and then said, "Of course you'll say that! You could have demon inside you. Hiding. Don't you know what they did?" Then she stepped closer to the man who seem to shrink inside his armor, "And I promise you, you little idiot, that I won't ever let demons do again what they did in there. Now begone, before I really cut your head off and spare us from speculating if you are dangerous or not," Cullen stared at her, his eyes wide and then he swallowed hard before turning to run away from her.

"That was..." Greagoir started a bit angrily, but stopped when Lenya turned her eyes on him.

"Harsh? Out of line? Uncalled for?" Lenya asked, never letting her eyes off from Greagoir's, "It was neither of those. He is dangerous, perhaps even possessed. So, mere fact that he still lives is me letting him off easy," She said, emphasizing each word. Greagoir looked uneasy, but he did not contest her, "The tower is safe. There are few rooms that have been barricaded from the inside. I expect that you find most living mages and perhaps even some of your templars from those, unless of course they've butchered everything moving like that idiot over there would have done."

"We will rebuild. The Circle will go on, and we will learn from this tragedy and be strengthened by it," Irving said. He was obviously trying to distract Greagoir from Lenya's words.

"Are you insane?" Alistair whispered so that no one else could hear him.

"No, I'm pissed off by this whole damn thing," Lenya replied and then she faked a cough to get Greagoir's attention when Irving left him alone, "There is this thing with the darkspawn still. You can't go and be all cozy in this damn tower just yet. I need aid and I have treaties here that compels you to help me."

"Those treaties compel only the mages," Greagoir said.

"Oh, I know that. I will just make sure you are all there with them. You can't after all watch them in this tower if they are fighting a war somewhere else, now can you?" Lenya grinned at the man, "Chantry should after all do something to protect things, not just sit on its ass and wait others tp do that for them."

"Oh no," Lenya heard Alistair mutter, "She's doing her diplomacy!"

"You have great disrespect for the Chantry, young woman," Greagoir said, "I am grateful for your assistant, but..."

"Ah, so you are grateful that I did your job, but can't be bothered to help me when I do my own job?" Lenya asked, "It is good to know that the Chantry is full of cowards. Makes me feel so much better about my own people's safety," She added and then turned to Alistair, "Let's go talk to the mages. Hopefully they are not incompetent cowards."

"Alright, Warden!" Greagoir said angrily. His face was bright red from anger, "You will have my templars there with the mages."

"Now, was that so hard?" Lenya asked smiling, "Be ready when we summon you," She then added and left Greagoir standing there, fuming. She went straight to Irving.

* * *

><p>When Lenya left to speak with Irving, Alistair exhaled and took support from the wall. He had been sure that the Knight-Commander would try to execute her. He hoped he would never ever see Lenya using diplomacy again.<p>

When he got his breathing in control he went after Lenya, who was now talking with Irving.

"No, Lenya," Alistair heard Leliana say, "You still don't have anything written on your body."

"I'm starting to think you all are just lying to me," Lenya said sighing, "You can come with us Wynne, but I warn you now. Coming with us is most likely suicide."

"I am well aware of the dangers, Lenya," Wynne said.

"Suit yourself," Lenya shrugged, "Your healing skills are very welcomed."

"Speaking of healing..." Wynne said, "Your left arm, it's hurting when you move it."

"A bit," Lenya shrugged and removed her bracers. Alistiar gasped at that. Her arm under there was one huge purple bruise, "The demon was very strong after all," She smiled and lifted her hand up so she could look at it better.

Alistair heard Leliana gasp behind him. He understood why. Lenya had taken that hit from the demon to spare Leliana's life after all.

"Let me heal that," Wynne said and touched the bruised spot with her hands. She saw Lenya wince, but she did not say anything as she studied how magic came alive around Wynne's hands, "There. That's all I can do for it. Damage has been healed, but the bruise remains a bit longer."

Lenya moved her fingers and clenched her hand to a fist, "Very nice, thank you."

"It is a miracle that your arm wasn't broken," Wynne said.

"Perhaps," Lenya said and put her bracers back on, "I do need a new armor though," She then sighed.

"Perhaps templars have something you could use," Wynne suggested.

"And how many elf templars there has been in this tower?" Lenya asked, "Because if there hasn't been one then I doubt any of their armors would fit me."

"We could return to the Peak," Leliana suggested, "Levi's brother, the smith, should be able to make you one and they owe you. So I doubt they would charge you too much."

Alistair held his breath. He and Leliana had tried to figure out a way to get Lenya going back to the Peak so she could get the Warden armor they've asked Mikael to refit for her. This was not how he would have tried it, but he had to admit that Leliana was way better at this than he was.

Lenya looked thoughtful, "That is possible, but are you certain that he can make armor for an elf?"

"Levi was certain that he is best smith there is," Leliana replied.

"Which of course doesn't tell us anything of how skilled he really is," Lenya said, "But there really isn't much choices. If I want same kind of armor I now use we would need to go and find a Dalish clan and that could take some time. None of the shems around here do armors for elves and only other option I can think of would be Orzammar. I've heard the durgen'len are best smiths you can possibly find."

"It is true that dwarves are considered best smiths, but journey there is longer than in the Peak," Leliana nodded.

"This wont last long," Lenya said and ran her hand gently over her armor. There was a sadness in her movements, "We'll go to the Peak," She then decided.

"When you have need of us, Warden Lenya, we will be there," Irving said.

"Thank you, First Enchanter," Lenya said and crossed her hands over her heart before giving slight bow to the man. That was sure sign of respect from Lenya's part. She did not do that to just anyone and that was a second time she did that to Irving. Alistair was curious of why she did respect Irving so much. She'd just met him and he was a human after all.

"We will be there as well, Warden," Greagoir said.

"Thank you, Knight-Commander," Lenya said and only nodded to him, "Let's go," She then ordered, "I want to see if Shale had, had any fun with bandits."

"I am not going to clean the camp if Shale has stomped on bandits like it did on the shore with those defectors," Alistair said.

"Me neither," Leliana said.

Lenya just laughed at them as they stepped out of the tower.

* * *

><p><strong>Warden camp<strong>

When Leliana came to the camp after taking a bath at the inn, she noticed that everyone else were there too. Except Lenya and Abelas. Everyone seemed to be nervous.

"What is it?" She asked from Alistair, "And where's Lenya?"

"She is on the small clearing in the forest, not far from here," Alistair replied, "But I don't think she wants to see anyone. She already threatened to kill Wynne because she went there and tried to tell her it will be alright or something like that."

"And that's why you are all so nervous?" Leliana asked and Alistair nodded, "This is about the Fade isn't it?" She then asked.

"I think so," Alistair nodded, "She doesn't say what the demon made her see, but it must have been bad, Leliana, real bad."

"I know," Leliana nodded, "And she had to face it alone," She added and Alistair nodded, looking miserable, "I will not let her go through all this alone."

"She will kill you if you go there," Alistair said and Leliana saw that he was serious.

"Then she will kill me, but I am not letting her face this alone," Leliana said, "She did help all of us and that alone is enough for me. Besides, she would do same for any of us."

Alistair sighed,"I don't think I can stop you, but be careful. She is extremely dangerous."

"I know that, Alistair," Leliana smiled at him and then she left him and headed towards the clearing Alistair had mentioned.

First thing Leliana heard was a sound of digging and then Lenya's soft voice singing. She knew the song. That was elven song for the dead.

When Leliana stepped into the clearing she found Lenya digging small holes into the ground and planting something in them. Her voice was beautiful, but it was also full of sorrow and terrible regret. She was sure that Lenya was crying as she did whatever she was doing.

Lenya did not turn to see who had entered the clearing, but Leliana knew that she'd noticed her. She did not try to talk to her or go to her. She didn't want to disturb her. So she just watched as she dug a hole in the ground and gently planted something in it before covering it again. She saw that she'd done that many times already.

"Came to tell me it's going to be alright as well?" Lenya finally asked scaring Leliana out of her thoughts. She'd been so mesmerized by Lenya's singing that she'd not even noticed that she'd finished whatever she'd been doing.

"No," Leliana replied, "I came to see if you need a friend."

Lenya shrugged and then she motioned her to sit down with her, "I could use company," Lenya said as she sat on the ground. After Leliana did the same Lenya lifted her eyes to hers, "I killed them," She said in anguished voice, "My whole clan. Even... even... even Merrill," Tears started to fall from her eyes as she spoke, "The demon had made her my mate. We were happy. Finally together. I was with my clan and I was happy. Blissful even. We made love and it was perfect. Everything I've ever wanted." Tears soaked her cheek and dropped on her lap.

Lenya looked at Lenya in horror. She'd know that whatever Lenya had been through was bad, but this. She felt her own eyes fill up with tears as she listened Lenya.

"Even Tamlen was there. Happily married as well. He was the first one I killed," Lenya continued, "My best friend and I killed him. Sword through the chest. It felt so real, that first I thought I'd made a terrible mistake, but then the whole clan attacked me and I killed them all. One by one. Harren Paivel, Fenaral, Ashale, the woman that was like mother to me, Keeper. I've always been good fighter. I wanted to be, to keep my clan safe. Someone is having a hell of a blast now that I used those talents to cut my clan down. Clan I'd sworn to protect."

Leliana wanted to wrap her arms around Lenya and hug her, but she did not dare to move.

"Keeper was last one alive. Protecting Merrill from me. I killed her so easily. One thrust and my sword went through her heart," Lenya continued, "Then it was just me and Merrill. She did not do anything to defend herself and I pierced her heart as well. I held her in my arms and saw how life escaped from her beautiful green eyes."

"I'm so, so sorry," Leliana managed to say and finally wrapped her hands around the elf. If Lenya killed her for this then so be it, but she could not bare to watch her longer without doing something.

She felt Lenya's body tense at first, but then she returned the embrace. Leliana felt moisture on her shoulder as Lenya's tears were soaking it.

Leliana didn't know how long she held Lenya in her arms before Lenya pulled back and wiped her eyes, "Ma Serannas, Lethallan," Lenya said to her and turned to look at the little dirt mounds that she'd dug there, "I buried them all here," She said, "I know they aren't dead, but it felt so real. I can never go back to them and not see what I did to them in the Beyond," Leliana could hear that her voice was faltering again, "I am all alone now," Lenya's head dropped in defeat.

Leliana moved so she was in front of Lenya and lifted her head so she could look her into the eyes. Lenya had the most stunning blue eyes, even when they were red from crying, "You're not alone, Lenya. I... we are here for you."

Lenya just shook her head. Leliana understood. They could be there for her, but they were not her people, "I think... I think we need to go to the inn and get few really strong drinks in you," She said and then pulled Lenya up and with her.

* * *

><p>When Lenya woke up her head was killing her. She also noticed that she was not sleeping in her tent. Then she noticed that she was not sleeping alone.<p>

As she turned her head she was greeted by Leliana who was looking at her, "Morning, Lenya."

"What...!" Lenya didn't quite find words, "Why are we in the same bed? Together?"

"Because after I got you up here you fell on top of me on the bed and passed out. I tried to move you off from me, but your body was pinning my hands down," Leliana explained, "I must have fell a sleep at some point after that and when I woke up you were sleeping so peacefully I didn't want to disturb you by moving a way."

"So..." Lenya said, "...I …We... didn't do anything?" She asked stumbling over her words.

"As far as I know. No we didn't," Leliana answered and her lips were twitching up in a smile, "As you can see you still have your armor on."

"Thank the Creators," Lenya exhaled in relief, "Did I do anything stupid?" She asked cautiously.

"You did broke a mans arm because he tried to kiss you," Leliana replied and got up from the bed, "Alistair was rather impressed about that. He expected you to behead him."

"I'm less violent when I'm drunk," Lenya said and sat up, "By the Creators. My head is about to explode."

"I'm not surprised," Leliana said, "You drank more than I've ever seen anyone drinking."

"Must be the damn taint," Lenya groaned and looked around, "Did I have my backpack with me when we got here?"

"No," Leliana shook her head, "You left it at the camp before we came here."

"Then I need to get to it. I need something for this headache and that something is in my bag," Lenya stood up with unsteady legs, "Do I need to fear a mob that will drive me out of the town because I hurt that shem? It was a shem wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was and no you don't. Apparently he's not very popular here," Leliana said as she opened the door.

"By all that's holy, it's too damn bright outside," Lenya cursed.

"Lenya?" She heard Alistair's voice ask.

"Yes, Tinman?" Lenya asked and shielded her eyes.

"Why are you coming out from Leliana's room?" Alistair asked, his voice puzzled.

"Because apparently I passed out there," Lenya replied, "On top of her no less," She added and unsteadily headed downstairs, "Go tell everyone that we are not going to move out today," She then ordered.

Blight could wait for a damn day for her to suffer her hangover in peace.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that the end of the chapter 12 and to the events in Circle Tower.**

**It always was clear to me that the Fade part would change Lenya. There was a need to get her to move forward. Even so it was hard for me to make her go through all she did.**

**Choices what you can say to Cullen in game missed all the things I wanted to say to him. Both when he is in the cage and when you finally get to Greagoir in the downstairs. Now I finally got the chance to say them. Well, Lenya got, but it made me happy. :)**

**Also the templars staying in the damn tower if you get mages to help you bugged me a lot in the game. So Lenya made sure that they do their damn part in defeating the Blight.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews are always welcome. Be them good or bad.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Chapter 13 is here and we leave the Circle tower behind us.**

**Thanks to all of you who've read this far. Special thanks to those who alerted/faved. Very special thanks to those who reviewed. And finally my undying gratitude to Faelan, without you, my dear friend, I don't think any of this would be possible.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware. Things you don't recognize belong to me and Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, November 2013: Grammar and other errors fixed.**

* * *

><p><strong>On the road to Soldier's Peak<strong>

Like Lenya had decided, they had rested one day, while she had nurtured her hangover and then they had left to travel towards the Peak again.

Alistair still didn't know what had happen to Lenya in the Fade. He knew it had something to do with her clan and the only reason he knew that, was because he'd heard Lenya mention it, when she was drunk. Lenya had been talking to Leliana, but when she'd noticed him there, she'd changed subject.

Alistair didn't quite know how to handle the fact, that Lenya seemed to trust Leliana more than him. When he muttered about it to himself, Wynne heard it, "Leliana did go to that clearing, to offer her support to Lenya, when no one else dared."

"But, Lenya doesn't even like Leliana much," Alistair said in a voice that sounded sulking even to his own ears. Why was he acting like this? - He couldn't quite understand what he was feeling.

"Dear, Alistair, things change," Wynne said, smiling a little, "Sometimes the change can happen very fast. Especially if there has been drastic events on the lives of the people in question."

"What happen in the Fade?" Alistair asked her. He knew, that Wynne didn't know what had happen to Lenya, but some unrealistic hope in him thought, that because she was a mage she would know anyway.

"I can't answer to that. Except on what happen to me," Wynne said, "Only one who knows what happen to all of us is Lenya."

"She is something..." Alistair said and looked at Lenya who was walking at the head of their group. Without her they would have all died in the Fade and there was no doubt that it had been worse for Lenya.

"Yes she is," Wynne said, "I don't know many who could have done what she did. She has a remarkable strength of will."

Alistair didn't say anything to that. Maker, he knew quite well how strong will Lenya had. Then he lifted his eyes and noticed that Lenya had stopped and that someone was running towards them.

When Alistair got to Lenya he saw that the runner was a woman wearing a peasant clothes.

"Oh, Thank the Maker!" The woman said and Alistair winced. That was pretty much worse thing you could say to Lenya, "We need help! They attacked the wagon: Please help us!" She added and then ran back where she'd come from.

Alistair was about to follow the woman when Lenya stopped him. He looked at her, puzzled. Instead of explaining, she knelt in front of Abelas, "Go tell Bodahn and Sandal that they have to stop and stay back," Lenya said to Abelas, who let out one soft bark and then ran to do what his mistress had told him.

"What is it?" Alistair asked. He didn't even want to know how Lenya thought Abelas could tell the dwarves her message.

"We are about the get ambushed," Leliana said behind him.

"Ambushed by a bloody idiots," Lenya added, "Why didn't they just put up a sign that says _'an ambush ahead'_ instead of sending someone screaming it to us?" She asked shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't understand," Alistair said.

"If that woman had been really attacked she would not be running back there like that," Leliana explained.

"And she really should see if we are even following her," Lenya said and then turned to speak to the rest of the group. She gave them their orders, but in truth she barely had to do that anymore. They all knew by now, how Lenya's mind worked in battle and everyone knew what she expected from them.

"Okay, let's go get ambushed," Lenya said after she'd given them their orders.

* * *

><p>When Zevran opened his eyes he felt the tip of the sword at his throat. Then he saw a leather boot that was attached to a rather lovely leg, "Mmm... what? I... oh," He said a bit groggily and lifted his eyes so he could see the owner of such divine legs. It was the Dalish elf Warden who had beaten him so thoroughly. Her blue eyes shined dangerously and he didn't doubt that she would kill him if he so much as twitched the wrong way. She was utterly gorgeous, "I rather thought I would wake up dead. Or not wake up at all, as the case may be," He said finally. Keeping his eyes on the Dalish, "But I see you haven't killed me yet."<p>

"I can easily rectify that," The elf said.

"Of that I have no doubt," Zevran said, "You are most skilled," He added, "If you haven't killed me, however, you must have kept me alive for some purpose, yes?"

"You're awfully glib for a prisoner," The elf said and rolled her eyes. Zevran did not dare to move when she did that. The tip of the blade did not move an inch from his throat. This woman was perhaps one of the most dangerous he'd ever met. No wonder Loghain wanted her dead.

Zevran chuckled at her remark, "It is my way, or so I've been told," He said and then gave them full explanation of who he was and why he was here. He had to stop only once when the golem interrupted them, after he'd said he was a Crow, "It's a bird!" It rumbled and stepped a closer, "All birds need to be squished and stomped into a fine paste."

"No Shale," The elf said, "You can't step on him just yet," She added, using a tone that would be better suited to describe the weather, "What the hell is Antivan Crow anyway?" She asked then.

Another beautiful red head, the human that had been so deadly with her arrows, spoke then, before Zevran had time to answer, "I can tell you that. They are order of assassins out of Antiva. Very powerful, and renowned for always getting the job done... so to speak. Someone went great expense to hire this man," She explained.

"Quite right. I'm surprised you haven't heard much of the Crows out here. Back where I come from, we're rather infamous," Zevran said. Though in truth he could understand why the Dalish would have not heard of the Crows.

The Dalish scoffed, "Not for being good assassins, I see," She said and her lips curved into a smile.

"Oh, fine. Is that what you Fereldans do? Mock your prisoners? Such cruelty," Zevran said sarcastically.

"Whose brilliant idea was to send that damn mage to meet us wearing a sign 'ambush ahead!' in her neck?" The elf Warden asked then and nodded towards the remains of Lydia. Zevran saw that her head had been severed. Shiver went through him, when he remembered how easily this elf had avoided the spell from Lydia and beheaded her in one swift stroke, "I don't like mages throwing spells at me," The elf grinned at him. She was utterly gorgeous and quite irresistible.

"Don't blame you for that," Zevran said and turned his eyes away from poor Lydia. After that she asked more questions. Who hired them and things like that. He gave her all the answers she wanted.

When the elf Warden was done asking about things she looked puzzled, "Why are you telling me all this?" She asked.

"Why not?" Zevran laughed, "I wasn't paid for my silence. Not that I offered it for sale, precisely."

"Were you paid to talk my ear off, then?" She asked looking curious.

"Consider it for something I'm throwing in for free," Zevran said and laughed a little, "As it is, if you are done with the interrogation, I've proposal for you, if you're of a mind."

"I'm listening. Make it quick," The elf Warden said and sheathed her sword in one fluid motion. She truly was a marvel to watch. He would have enjoyed watching her fight much more, if she had not been fighting against him.

Zevran quickly outlined his situation and his offer to join her. Her reaction was not quite what he had expected though.

"By the Creators. I give up," The elf Warden threw her hands up in the air, "When we find a lake, river or anything that has water, we will be stopping there for a day and I'm going to scrub myself raw. I just can't believe that everyone is wanting to join my merry band of lunatics, without something prompting them to do so," She turned to speak with her other companions, "Well, Leliana wanting to join me I still understand. That was just one time and could have been a chance or something. Even Wynne I am willing to accept, but even her wanting to join with me is starting to stretch how believable it is," Zevran stared at her, amused. He didn't know what in his offer set this up, but he was willing to watch what would happen, "But an assassin? The one of you who wrote 'Collecting strays' in me somewhere is going to pay for it dearly."

"I assure you, Lenya," The other red head said smiling, "There isn't anything written in you. Aside from your own tattoos."

"Bah!" The elf, Lenya, scoffed, "Leliana, I don't believe you anymore. There has to be some ridiculous reason why people want to follow me."

"Could it be that you are projecting aura of competence around you, young lady?" Lenya's older mage companion asked.

"I project something soon and by the Creators it's not competence," Lenya cursed angrily, "And you, assassin, do you think I'm royally stupid?" She asked from him then.

"I think you are royally tough to kill. And utterly gorgeous," Zevran said in a flirtatious tone. Indignant "Hrmph!" Was the only answer he got for his flattery from Lenya. The reaction of the young man with Lenya was much more interesting though. He turned red and looked like he wanted to hurry and protect Lenya's innocence or something. - Interesting, Zevran thought - Leliana also gave off a small gesture that told him that she was interested in Lenya. Very interesting indeed.

"I can also be royally pissed off if you won't start making sense," Lenya said.

"No, I didn't think you would respond for a simple flattery, but there are worse things in life than serving the whims of deadly sex goddess," Zevran said. Another twitch from the young man and if possible he turned even more red. That was quite remarkable. No reaction from Leliana or Lenya this time.

"If I let you join with us," Lenya said, "Can I expect same amount of loyalty from you as you showed your previous employer?" She asked then.

"I happen to be very loyal person," Zevran said honestly, "Up until the point where someone expects me to die for failing," He added, "That's not fault really, is it?" He asked and saw nothing changing on Lenya's face, "I mean, unless you're the sort that would do the same thing. In which case I... don't come very well recommended, I suppose," He let out a little laugh.

Lenya stared at him for a while and then asked series of questions. What's stopping him from trying to finish the job and kill them. Would Crows come after him and stuff like that.

Only after that Lenya asked the question that Zevran would have asked first, "Why would I want your service?" She asked. It was also interesting that she did not say we, but I. It was obvious then that what ever happen, it was because she decided to make it happen. When he got this assignment he'd thought that the young human Warden would be the one leading the party. From what he'd seen so far, he would not be in this position if the young man would have led them.

"Why? Because I'm skilled at many things. From fighting to stealth and picking locks," Zevran replied, "I could also warn you should the Antivan Crows attempt to try something more... sophisticated... now that my efforts have failed," He continued and then smiled at her, "I could also stand around and look pretty, if you prefer. Warm your bed? Fend of unwanted suitors? No?" He said. Again the reactions of the young man and Leliana were more interesting than Lenya's.

"No," Came short and very decisive answer from Lenya. She really piqued his interest.

"I like a woman who knows exactly what she wants. I really do," Zevran said, "So, what shall it be? I'll even shine armor. You won't find a better deal, I promise," He added in more serious tone.

Lenya seemed to look straight through him. Zevran got the feeling that she didn't even see him. It made a shiver run through him.

"Very well, I accept your offer," Lenya said finally.

"What!" The young man burst out, his voice incredulous, "You're taking the assassin with us now? Does that really seem such a good idea?"

"Don't worry about it, Alistair," Lenya said, "We can use him," She added and turned to look at him. When her blue eyes locked in his, Zevran shivered again. Danger had always intrigued him and pledging himself to Lenya's service was like a riding with a lightning. He knew that if he made one wrong move, Lenya would behead him as fast as she'd done to Lydia. He was going to enjoy this.

"Hmm, all right, all right. I see your point," The young man, Alistair said, surrendering to Lenya's leadership. Much faster than Zevran had thought he would, "Still. If there were a sign that we were desperate. I think it just knocked on door and said hello."

"Welcome, Zevran. Having an Antivan Crow to join us sounds like a fine plan," Leliana said to him.

"Oh?" Zevran asked and added flirtatiously, "You are another companion-to-be, then? I wasn't aware that such loveliness existed amongst adventurers, surely," Interestingly that got twitch out of Lenya now. Zevran was sure he would enjoy this.

"Or maybe not," Leliana said and crossed her arms over her chest.

Lenya helped him up from the ground.

"I hereby pledge my oath of loyalty to you until such a time that you choose to release me from it. I am your man, without reservation... this I swear," Zevran said and he meant every word for it. This was supposed to be his last mission, but obviously someone had other plans for him.

"I welcome you, Zevran," Lenya said and nodded slightly. She had his sword and dagger in her hands. She studied them for a moment and did few forms with them. Then she turned them around and offered their hilts to him.

Without hesitation Zevran picked them and sheathed them, "Let me say this, my dear lady. You are marvel to watch when you move with your weapons."

"I know," Lenya said and grinned at him, "Check the bodies for anything we can sell," She then ordered, "Abelas, go get Bodahn and Sandal," She then said to the huge mabari beside her. The dog gave one bark and went to do as his mistress commanded.

* * *

><p><strong>Warden camp<strong>

When they had set up the camp for the evening. Alistair wanted to think it was a coincident, that there was a small lake near, but knowing Lenya and her need to scrub herself clean, as she had put it, he doubted it actually was a coincident.

As soon as the camp had been set up, Morrigan and Lenya had started to make food. No one let Alistair himself near the unprepared food unless it was absolutely necessary. Which had never happen so far. He didn't know what actually constituted as necessary in Lenya's view.

So, because he had nothing to do, Alistair started to clean his armor and weapons. It gave him plenty of time to think as well. This time his mind was occupied with one thing only. Zevran.

He just couldn't believe that Lenya had taken the assassin with them. It really didn't seem like a good idea, but now it was too late to protest. All though, he doubted if he could have protested any better when there was time for it.

"You're glaring at me again, my dear templar," Zevran said snapping Alistair out of his thoughts, "Is there something you want to say or perhaps you want me to give you a massage."

"I... what!" Alistair mind made a complete halt, "No! I don't want a massage."

"Pity," Zevran said smiling, "It would be a delight to give a massage to such well formed young man such as you, my dear Alistair," He added and gave flirtatious smile at Alistair.

"I don't want a massage!" Alistair growled at him.

"I understand," Zevran nodded, "Let me know if you change your mind," He added before he left.

"Don't let him get to you, Alistair," Leliana said and sat beside him.

"He's... I mean... Argh!" Alistair managed to say, making Leliana smile, "Why did she take him with us?" He asked then.

"For the same reason she took me, Sten and even Wynne, I think," Leliana replied. Maker help him, but Alistair understood it. He didn't want to. Which was probably why he was struggling with it. On his core Alistair trusted Lenya without thinking about it though.

"I guess," He said and shook his head, "I just don't like how he treats Lenya."

"You mean the flirting?" Leliana asked and Alistair nodded, "I doubt he has much luck with those when it comes to Lenya," She said smiling.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Alistair asked, "He's an elf like she is. What if he takes advantage of Lenya's loneliness?"

"Alistair, believe me. Zevran has no chances whatsoever with Lenya," Leliana said, "She is..." She started, but Alistair never found out what she was going to say because Leliana was interrupted by Lenya.

"Do we have a spare sword I could use to practice?" Lenya asked and came to them. Obviously she was no longer needed to prepare food. She had also removed her armor and was wearing her camp clothes. Alistair always had trouble breathing when she used them. Short skirt, a soft cloth that went around her chest and covered her breasts and soft leather boots. In truth it didn't reveal anymore than her armor did, but somehow it felt different.

"Something wrong with your own sword?" Leliana asked.

"No, but I want to see if I can use two long swords the same way I now use a sword and dagger," Lenya replied.

"I've known people who can do that and from what I saw of your skills, you could be one of them," Zevran said walking back to them, "Provided your left hand is strong enough to handle the extra weight."

"Zevran, I practice using a sword on my both hands so it's strong enough. I've just never tried to use two swords simultaneously," Lenya replied. Not to mention that she was now stronger because of the Taint and because of what had happen in the Fade and who knows what Avernus's potion had done to her – Alistair thought.

"You can use my sword," Zevran said, "I'm most eager to see you move again."

"I bet you are," Lenya said as she took the sword Zevran was offering, "Don't get any ideas though or you might lose something you would miss," She smiled at Zevran.

"You're such a tease, my dear lady," Zevran said and bowed to Lenya.

"I am also very, very deadly," Lenya said and swirled both of her swords and then crossed the blades in front of her eyes.

"As I said. A tease," Zevran chuckled.

"If you like danger so much. Go flirt with Morrigan," Lenya suggested, grinning.

"And miss seeing you practicing with the swords?" Zevran countered.

"Suit yourself," Lenya shrugged and left them then. She walked to the open space near the edge of their camp and for a moment she stood there without moving. Then she started to move. From one move to the another without a pause between them. It was like watching a dance.

"You might want to breath once in a while, my templar friend, or you will pass out," Zevran said to him. Only then Alistair noticed he'd been holding his breath. He felt his face warm up, as blush consumed it, "You know, you are rather cute when you blush like that," Zevran said then. He also heard Leliana chuckle at that.

Alistair had missed the rest of Lenya's practice as she was walking towards them when he finally lifted his eyes from the ground. Silently he cursed Zevran. Even though, forgetting to breath was not precisely Zevran's fault.

"Balance is a bit different than with a dagger, but with practice I can be as good with two sword as I am with sword and dagger," Lenya said when she got to them. She was glistening from sweat, but her breathing was not labored at all and her eyes shined from excitement, "Thank you for lending me your sword, Zevran," She then said and handed Zevran's sword back to him.

"For the chance to see you dance like that, you can borrow my sword anytime," Zevran said and respectfully bowed to Lenya who answered the bow with a slight nod of her head. Then she left and walked to her tent.

All three of them followed Lenya with their eyes as long as she was in sight. When she disappeared into her tent, Zevran sighed, "To see something like that..." He said and left them. Leliana just nodded and left as well, leaving Alistair sitting there alone. His armor and sword were still on his lap, forgotten there. Absentmindedly he started to clean them.

* * *

><p>Leliana couldn't resist the temptation, when she saw Lenya leave the camp, carrying her towel.<p>

Silently she followed Lenya as she walked to the lake. Leliana was glad that Abelas was not with her mistress, since he would have made following Lenya practically impossible.

When Lenya got to the shore of the lake, she looked around to make sure she was alone and then removed her clothes.

Breath caught up on Leliana's throat when she saw Lenya without clothes, slowly walking to the water line and testing the water with her toe. Her body was perfect. Soft lines of her breasts and buttocks were contrasting perfectly with the muscles of her arms and legs.

Leliana watched, mesmerized how Lenya entered the water and set of to float on her back, only her head above water and peaks of her breasts breaking the surface when the small waves moved the water around her. Leliana swallowed hard and licked her lips as she felt familiar tingling on her stomach.

She backed away slowly before she was discovered. She had to get away from Lenya, before she did something stupid and ruined the trust Lenya had started to show her.

When Leliana turned around she was greeted by Abelas, who was looking at her, his head tilted to the left. She had no idea how long he'd been there, "I don't want any harm on Lenya," Leliana whispered to Abelas and he snorted. Clearly saying that he knew that and that she would not be alive if she'd tried anything, "Please don't tell her I was here," Leliana pleaded then. Feeling only slightly surreal because of the fact that she was speaking to a dog. Abelas tilted his head to the other side and then let out a low bark. She couldn't be sure, but she thought that Abelas had agreed not to expose her.

"Who's there?" Lenya's voice called out from the lake. Abelas tilted his head again and then barked louder before he went around Leliana and to his mistress, "Abelas," She heard Lenya say and then heard how she started to talk to him in elvish.

As quietly as she could Leliana walked back to the camp and went to sit near the fire. She couldn't lose the images of Lenya away from her mind though. She'd suspected that she had feelings towards Lenya and after what she'd just seen and how it had affected her. She didn't need to suspect it anymore.

* * *

><p>Alistair saw Leliana return into the camp looking a bit distracted. He hoped she hadn't seen anything dangerous out there. They could use some rest without any fighting coming to interrupt it.<p>

As Leliana got closer and sat near the fire he sighed in relief. Nothing was threatening them, at least at the moment. That also did raise a question. What made Leliana look so thoughtful.

"Something wrong?" Alistair asked after they'd sat there in silence for a while.

"What?... wrong?" Leliana said, looking startled and then she seemed to realize where she was, "No, nothing is wrong," She assured him.

"You look awfully thoughtful and more than little distracted," Alistair said.

"I've... just been thinking," Leliana replied, "About the fade and what I experienced there," She added, but somehow Alistair got the feeling that she wasn't completely honest, but everyone had some little secrets they didn't want others to know.

"I've been trying not to think about that," Alistair said and shiver ran through him. He could still see his sister and her children changing into demons and how Lenya had saved him from them. She'd also saved him from killing his own sister.

"How did she save you?" Leliana asked.

"She made me question what I was seeing and to make me trust her more than I did for the demons illusions," Alistair replied, "She also..." He started, "... saved me from doing something else as well."

"We owe her a lot," Leliana said.

"I know," Alistair nodded, "I wish I could help her somehow. The Fade was bad for us all, but it was worse for her."

"If that was some sneaky way to make me tell you what she saw there, it didn't work," Leliana said smiling a little, "You need to ask from herself if you want to know."

"I know..." Alistair sighed, "It's just that I can't talk with her without making a fool out of myself," He shook his head and sighed again.

"She's no different to talk to than anyone else is," Leliana said.

"What?" Alistair exclaimed and looked at Leliana like she'd gone mad, "How can you say that? She's dangerous, doesn't like humans. She's beautiful and..." At that point his voice drifted away and he blushed. He hadn't meant to say that.

"She's dangerous, yes, but not to her friends. She doesn't like humans, yes, but she does like you and me, to a some extent at least. Not sure if she likes Wynne. As for her being beautiful. Well, that's also true, but you can talk to Morrigan and she's beautiful as well."

"Yes, but she's a bitch," Alistair muttered making Leliana chuckle.

"So, just think Lenya as a bitch then," Leliana suggested and grinned at him.

"Are you mad?" Alistair choked, "She would kill me if I treat her like I do Morrigan."

"Maybe," Leliana smiled, "You can't go through your life fearing to talk to people. How can you ever get anything done?"

"I let you know I can talk to many people," Alistair lifted his finger up, "Just not to Lenya."

"You're hopeless, Alistair," Leliana shook her head in defeat.

"Absolutely," Alistair nodded and then he swallowed hard. Lenya was walking towards them. Her hair was still wet, so she'd probably been swimming.

"I would like to talk to you about something, Alistair," Lenya said to him when she got to the fire.

"Sure," Alistair said. It was like he lost half of his vocabulary when Lenya talked to him, "What about?" He managed to ask.

* * *

><p>"What can templars actually do?" Lenya asked from Alistair. It was time to find out if she could learn at least some of the tricks he had been using against the mages and emissaries. Those skills could have been handy for her in the tower and in the Beyond.<p>

"Essentially they are trained to fight," Alistair replied, "The Chantry want you to believe that templars exist only to defend, but don't let that fool you. They are an army," He continued, "The other main purpose for templars is of course, to hunt mages. To that end we train in talents that drain mana and disrupt spells," He continued his explanation. That much she'd figured out about the talents herself as well. Main question now was, could she learn them.

"So, templars use magic themselves?" Lenya asked. If they did, it wouldn't be possible for her to learn their skills.

"You could call it that, sure. The Chantry doesn't look at it same way, however, since our talents only work on mages. Against the regular person I'm just a guy in a metal suit," Alistair replied and then grinned at her, "A tinman." He added, making her smile a little.

"So, can anyone learn these skills?" Lenya asked.

"Perhaps, but there usually isn't much of an opportunity," Alistair replied and studied her intently, "The Chantry keeps a close reign on its templars. We are given lyrium to help develop our magical talents, you see... which means we become addicted," He explained, "And since the Chantry controls the lyrium trade with the dwarves... well, I'm sure you can put two and two together."

"That's disgusting," Lenya burst out, startling both Alistair and Leliana, "Every time I hear more about this cursed chantry of yours it makes me sick. They don't just enslave the mages, but the damn templars as well," She said almost angrily, "How can you all believe in something so evil?" She wanted to know, but didn't expect an answer. She had to get somewhere to cool down. It wasn't Alistair's fault and yelling at him was not fair, "I need a moment," She muttered and left without waiting if Alistair wanted to say something.

Lenya had tried to understand the Chantry. For Leliana's and Alistair's sake, because they both believed in it. Tried to be more open minded about it. It wasn't easy, but the way Leliana spoke about it, didn't make it sound so bad, but the image Leliana gave her was wishful thinking on Leliana's part. Leliana had this whole different chantry in her head. Reality was not on Leliana's side and the reality was ugly and just the way Lenya had been taught it would be.

* * *

><p>"What happen?" Wynne came to them and followed leaving Lenya with her eyes.<p>

"Lenya asked me about the templars," Alistair replied, "What our talents are and if anyone can learn them."

"I don't see answers to that making her so upset," Wynne said.

"No, they didn't," Alistair said and shook his head, "I also told about the lyrium templars are given and that the Chantry controls the lyrium trade with the dwarves," He continued. He should have seen it. He knew what Lenya thought about the mages. Them being slaves. And he knew that the templars weren't free. So he should have known how Lenya would see it.

"And?" Wynne said. Alistair almost sighed. Wynne didn't get it why that might have upset Lenya so. What was it that Lenya said in the tower - Wynne couldn't see the forest from the trees - She'd been right.

"She sees it as a slavery," Alistair explained, "She also asked how can we all believe in something so evil."

"We need to make her see that it isn't so," Wynne said.

"No," Alistair said firmly, "She isn't wrong."

"But, Alistair, mages aren't slaves or the templars either," Wynne said.

"I'm sorry, Wynne, but I can't believe in that anymore," Alistair said, "All my life I've thought like you do. Because I've been taught to think like that from as long as I can remember," He continued, "But after I heard her view of the things I'm more and more sure she is right. The mages aren't free, they are controlled by others. They can't have a family. They can be killed on the whims of the chantry. If that isn't slavery then I don't know what is and the templars aren't in much better position. Sure, they are more free to move around, but they are as bound to the Chantry's whims as mages are, maybe even more. One word from the chantry and they don't get the lyrium they need and it makes them drooling simpletons and most likely kills them."

"Her views are colored by her upbringing," Wynne pointed out.

"Of course they are, but that doesn't mean she's wrong," Alistair said, "I've seen her trying to see past the preconceptions of her upbringing. I saw her listening Leliana as she told about the chantry and how it had helped her find peace. I've seen her admit that there is good in the Chantry as well and believe me, that's no small thing for her to admit. Unfortunately for all the little good things she learns from the Chantry, there are huge amount of bad things. How the Chantry treats mages makes her really angry for some reason."

"It's because she's Dalish," Leliana joined into the conversation. She'd been so quiet that Alistair had forgot she was there, "They remember the time when they were slaves. So she can relate to them," Little smile appeared on her lips, "If she could, she would free the mages."

"There must be something more than just that for her to feel this strongly about mages," Wynne said.

"There is, but it's not my place to say what it is," Leliana said, "If she wants to tell about it, it's her choice."

"I would have thought that after the tower she would understand why the Circle is needed," Wynne said, "She saw what the mages are capable of."

"I've always known what the mages are capable of," Lenya's voice interrupted them and she walked back to the camp. Her hearing must be very good for her to hear what Wynne had said, "Uldred did things I would kill him ten more times if that were possible, but even though he was to blame what happen on the Circle, I can understand him. He wanted to be free. There is only one thing you can ultimately blame for what happen in the Tower and that one thing is the Chantry," She continued, "Sooner or later slaves rebel. If you don't believe me on that, you can go ask from Tevinter," She smiled, but then she sighed, "I wonder what Andraste would think about what has become of her followers."

"But mages are dangerous," Wynne said.

"So am I," Lenya snorted, "Want to lock me up in some tower as well?" Then she waved her hand, "I don't want to talk about this right now," She then said, "It makes me want to mount an attack to the Chantry or something equally suicidal."

"But..." Wynne said.

"No," Lenya said, "I haven't finished my conversation with Alistair and that's exactly what I will do now."

"You still want to talk about the templars?" Alistair asked, surprised.

"Templars themselves, no, but what they can do, yes," Lenya replied, "Is the lyrium required for you to learn the talents?"

"No, you don't need lyrium in order to learn the talents. Lyrium only makes our talents more effective or so we were told. I'm not sure it does even that."

"Did you use lyrium when we were fighting the mages and demons in the tower?" Lenya asked next.

"No," Alistair shook his head.

"Can you teach me to do what you do?" Lenya asked then the question Alistair had been waiting since he had noticed Lenya looking at him at the tower when he fought the mages.

"The grand Cleric made me vow that I won't spread the templar secrets to anyone," Alistair said.

"And you made much stronger vow to the Grey Wardens to protect the world from darkspawn," Lenya said, "If you teach me these templar talents, I can be more effective when fighting the darkspawn emissaries."

"True," Alistair nodded and he understood what she meant. Her knowing these talents could someday save their lives, "I guess if I am about to give away the Chantry's secrets I'd better start with some good ones," He said finally.

Lenya's eyes lit up from the excitement and her smile was simply radiant. By the Maker she was beautiful.

"Shall we start then?" Lenya asked.

"You mean right now?" Alistair managed to ask.

"Why not?" Lenya asked, "There's still enough light so we can see."

"You do understand that it requires a lot of discipline for you to learn these skills," Alistair pointed out.

"Alistair, do you think I've become so good with the sword without having a discipline?" Lenya asked and her voice told him that she was thinking he was a bit simple.

"I... I guess not," Alistair sighed, "Let's go over there and get started," He then said. He might as well do as Lenya wanted. He would do so sooner or later anyway.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And here we are, end of the chapter 13. Traveling chapter and the party got more new blood with them. Flirty assassin for everyone.**

**Wynne has always bugged me a lot. Even when I role played characters that believe as she do. There is just something that makes me want to shout at her, but yelling at the monitor just doesn't make me feel any better. Lenya, on the other hand, doesn't have my problems and can even shout at her directly. I will have to see how those two will get along as the story progresses.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews, good or bad, are always welcomed.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Chapter 14 is here. Some traveling to be expected and arrival at the Peak.**

**I wish to thank everyone who have read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted. Very special thanks to those who reviewed. Extra special thanks and my eternal gratitude goes for Faelan. Your support is invaluable my friend.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, December 2013: Grammar and other errors fixed.**

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><p><strong>On the road to the Soldiers Peak<strong>

They were about a days journey away from the Soldiers Peak and they had just witnessed something very odd. Elderly shem couple had been standing near a huge crater on the ground and they had been speaking of how a child had apparently fallen from the skies and ended at the bottom of that crater. Lenya thought that the shems had been crazy, but Leliana thought it was a miracle or something. They had taken the metal, that had been at the bottom of the crater, with them though. Shale had become almost giddy when it had touched it and started to mutter that it was starmetal or something like that.

"You really think that the Maker of yours just tied the child into a lump of odd metal and hurled it down from the skies?" Lenya asked, rolling her eyes, when they walked together in front of the group, "And made sure there was childless couple waiting nearby?"

"You have to admit, Lenya, that it's as good explanation as anything else," Leliana said.

"No I don't," Lenya shook her head, "More likely story is that someone abandoned the child there."

"How do you explain the odd metal then?" Leliana asked.

"Don't see any reason why it could have not fallen from the sky," Lenya shrugged, "But you can call me a shem before I believe that the child just fell from the sky like that and didn't go squish."

"I don't think I want to go and call you a shem," Leliana said smiling.

"Good call," Lenya chuckled.

After that they walked in silence for a while. It was an odd sensation for Lenya. Feeling like she was with friends. Well, mostly with friends. She didn't know if she could call Wynne a friend. The old mage tried to preach her whenever she went to talk with her. It was maddening. She also didn't count Sten as a friend and she knew that he didn't count Lenya herself as such either.

Then Lenya sensed a change in how Leliana moved. Leliana was now cautious and nervous. So she was most likely going to say something to her and wasn't quite sure how she would take it.

It still took sometime before Leliana said anything and when she spoke she was weighing her words carefully, "I must say that traveling with you has opened my eyes to how wrong some are about the Dalish," Leliana said and that explained why she was so careful. She didn't want to offend Lenya, "You're not at all savage. And I've not seen you snatch away women and children without provocation."

"You have seen me fight and still say I'm not a savage?" Lenya chuckled and then shook her head slightly, "But my people are often misunderstood. We're used to it."

"If my people would be more open to interacting with yours, we could do away with such misperceptions," Leliana said. She really was an optimist.

"I don't think we are ready to interact with shems," Lenya shook her head, "The last time that happened, it didn't end well for us."

"I know humans and elves don't share a happy history, but peace must be possible," Leliana said, "Look at how well you get along with humans."

"Leliana," Lenya sighed, "Most shem... humans I meet, besides you four, tend to end up either dead or humiliated and you have to remember that without certain events I would still be with my clan and only way I would meet humans, would be when I defend the clan against their attacks," She felt, now familiar, pain in her heart when she mentioned her clan. She hoped it would ease up with time.

"But just being what you are, you are proof that the Dalish and humans can get along," Leliana said and then she smiled, "I hear many city folks talk about how wonderful it must be to live simpler lives, close to the earth. They could learn from the Dalish."

"Do you think us a quaint curiosity meant for study?" Lenya asked sharply. Trying to reign in the anger Leliana's words ignited in her. If any stranger would have said, what Leliana had said, she might have just shrugged at it, but she'd started to expect more from Leliana and for her to express a viewpoint every shem seemed to share, hurt and angered her.

"I... I am sorry. I did not mean it like that. I didn't mean to belittle your culture," Leliana said and she looked miserable. She was truly sorry, "I have met very few elves and those that I have met were... pledged to the service of Orlesian nobles," She continued, trying to explain.

"Slaves," Lenya spat out and Leliana jumped, a little, at that.

"They are serfs. There is no slavery in Orleais," Leliana said.

"It's the same damn thing," Lenya snarled. It was getting harder for her to hold on with her temper. Slavery always made her blood boil.

"Elven servants are well-compensated for their services. Some of them live richer lives than humans," Leliana tried to explain. It was obvious that she believed in what she was saying. Which made it even worse in Lenya's ears, "A well-trained elven servant is highly valued in Orlais. They are nimble and dextrous and many people find them pleasant to look at."

"Like a prize-winning animal?" Lenya asked in a voice that sounded almost like a growl and she closed her eyes. She did not want to lash out on Leliana, but Leliana was making it really hard.

"No, I did not mean it that way!" Leliana said and then she sighed, "My words were clumsily chosen," She got that right, "I did not mean to offend," And that was the only reason why Lenya was not yelling at Leliana at the moment, "I- ugh... I am sorry," Leliana then said and she looked really miserable.

Lenya took a few deep breaths before she spoke, "You may not be cruel, but you still see us differently," She said, "Even you see us first as elves and only after that as persons. You don't even notice it. Which is of course better than those who notice it and try to make sure that we know how lowly we are and how much better they are."

"I... I did not realize that," Leliana said after a short pause and then she shook her head slightly, "It is so strange, how long-held beliefs just seem natural and... right. Like there is no other way to feel," She continued and Lenya knew exactly how realizing that, felt. Changing what you had learned to hold true was really hard as Lenya was finding out herself, "Thank you. You have given me a lot to think about," Leliana said finally and Lenya just nodded at her and slowed her pace, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

* * *

><p>After Lenya left her side, Leliana couldn't stop thinking, what Lenya had said. She now saw, that she'd really thought herself superior to Lenya. Without even thinking. Sure they were all following Lenya and doing as she told, but Leliana had still always been sure, that she could do as well or even better because she was a human and Lenya was not. Which was not true in the slightest.<p>

Only thing she could do better than Lenya, was talk to humans and the biggest reason for that wasn't even Lenya's complete lack of diplomatic skills, but the fact that she was human and Lenya was not. She'd seen the looks humans gave to Lenya. Like she was barely worth looking at. Let alone speak to. If it was not that, it was fear. Fear of the armed elf. Neither she nor Alistair got quite so many fearful looks and they were just as armed as Lenya was.

It was actually a miracle that Lenya had not killed more people. Leliana was not sure she would have been able to hold herself back, if she'd been treated like Lenya was treated every time she spoke to humans. That made her respect Lenya even more. Now that she was thinking, she remembered things that she'd just ignored as irrelevant. Lenya's respect towards Irving right from the start. At the time she'd wondered why Lenya was showing respect to Irving, a human she'd just met, but now Leliana remembered the respect Irving had shown to Lenya from the beginning. He had not cared about Lenya's race and she had shown the same courtesy to him.

Lenya had even shown respect towards Greagoir at the beginning and it was not because Greagoir was human that he'd lost Lenya's respect.

It pained Leliana to admit that Lenya had been more respectful towards humans than she'd given her credit for. Lenya just wanted to be treated as a person instead of just an elf and if you gave her that, she was polite towards you, well polite in Lenya's standards at least, unless you gave her other reason to dislike you.

Leliana had believed that Lenya's behavior towards people she'd threatened had been because they were humans, but it was more, that they were trying to do wrong against her, than that they were humans. She was sure that it was easier for Lenya to threaten humans, but encounter with Zevran had taught her that Lenya didn't have any problems on threatening elves either. It was not only the race that mattered to her in the end. It was how you acted.

"What did our gorgeous leader say to you, that it made you fall so deep into your own thoughts?" Zevran's voice brought Leliana back to the present.

"She made me see things differently," Leliana replied.

"She is very good at that," Zevran nodded, "Just a moment ago she told me that I am missing all the good parts when I asked her to bed me."

"You did what?" Leliana almost choked on her tongue.

"Surely that can't be misunderstood," Zevran mused, "I assume it does mean the same thing in Ferelden as it does in Antiva."

"Yes, it does mean the same thing, but did you really just go and ask her to sleep with you?" Leliana asked giving him a disbelieving look.

"Well, I didn't suggest we sleep and I didn't go and blurt it out just like that. I'm not a barbarian," Zevran replied smiling, "I flirted with her and suggested things we could do together and then she laughed at me and told that I lack all the good parts."

"I could have told you that," Leliana chuckled.

"I'm sure you could have," Zevran nodded, "Does our young templar friend know that as well?" He asked then and looked behind them where Alistair was walking.

"I've tried to tell him, but every time I start to tell him, I get interrupted. Usually by Lenya herself," Leliana sighed. She'd noticed that Alistair was getting more and more enamored by Lenya and she wanted to spare him from the heartache when he eventually would find out that Lenya liked women, not men, "And I can't just go to him and blurt out that _'by the way, Alistair, Lenya likes women.'_"

"I can see how he might take that. I've seen how he watches you and Lenya when you two are together. He could see that as an attempt to make him back off or for you trying to keep Lenya yourself," Zevran said and Leliana nodded, "He either have to figure it out by himself or Lenya has to tell him that."

"It didn't help at all that Lenya passed out on top of me, in my room at the Spoiled Princess inn," Leliana sighed.

"Our gorgeous leader was drunk and passed on top of you?" Zevran asked, "Oh, you have to tell me the whole story. Don't leave any saucy stuff out," He then added grinning at her.

"Nothing like that happen, Zevran," Leliana sighed again and already regretted even mentioning that.

"I'm sure," Zevran chuckled, "I'll just imagine all the saucy stuff then, my dear Leliana."

"You are quite insufferable," Leliana sighed again.

After that they talked about more general things. Even though Zevran tried to get back to Lenya and her more than once.

* * *

><p><strong>Soldiers Peak<strong>

"It does look a bit more homey," Lenya said when they got out of the tunnel that lead to the Peak and the fortress became visible, "And I can't sense the damn Beyond here," She sighed in relief. If there was something she'd had more than enough of it was the Beyond.

"There's still birds," Shale rumbled, annoyed.

"I doubt they've paid much attention on killing the birds," Lenya said.

"It just shows how poorly you squishy things understand the priorities of life," Shale sighed and picked up a large rock and threw it at the ravens that were flying near them. Its aim was good and couple of birds got hit by the rock and was crushed by it.

"Feeling better?" Lenya asked as they heard the rock fall down somewhere in the mountains.

"Only marginally," Shale replied and sighed again.

"Well, at least you can be sure that those few birds won't come back anymore," Lenya comforted the golem.

"Its words are appreciated," Shale said and walked ahead of them.

"I don't know how you do that," Alistair said and stopped beside her.

"Do what?" Lenya asked, puzzled.

"Can treat Shale like its a normal person and not a very heavy moving rock with an unhealthy desire to squish people," Alistair replied.

"That's easy," Lenya said, "Shale is a person and so what if it likes to crush our enemies heads. You don't complain... well not anymore at least, when I cut the heads off from them, so why should you care if Shale crushes them?" She didn't understand Alistair sometimes. He had such a narrow view of life sometimes and everything that didn't fit in it, was unnerving to him.

"Shale doesn't limit its desire to crush heads to our enemies," Alistair pointed out.

"Neither do I," Lenya countered, "But there is a difference between wanting to do something and actually doing it. If I'd cut the head off from all the people who'd annoyed me, since I came to Ostagar, none of you would be here or more likely I wouldn't be here, because I would have cut the head off from the King and been executed on the spot."

"But..." Alistair started, but stopped when she lifted her hand up.

"There is nothing wrong with Shale. It has been a great help to us and it is invaluable in fight so you better get used to the fact that, as long as it wants, it can travel with us," Lenya said, "Now, lets go see if I can get a new armor."

"There's nothing wrong with your armor, dear Lenya," Zevran said.

"Then you can wear it," Lenya chuckled.

"Alas, if I would wear it, it would not be filled in all the right places," Zevran sighed theatrically.

"I told you that you are missing all the good parts," Lenya grinned at him.

"So you did, my dear lady," Zevran chuckled and then he studied the fortress, "Impressive building."

"Not many Wardens in there," Lenya shrugged, "Only one half crazy blood mage in the tower."

"Once the Wardens flourished, their ranks full, their caliber certain. Now they even accept people like Alistair," Morrigan said behind them.

"Hey!" Alistair exclaimed looking hurt. Lenya chuckled at that as they approached the gate that lead inside the fortress.

"Warden!" Levi's voice greeted them when they stepped into the courtyard, "It is good to see you alive and well."

"Thank you, Levi," She nodded at the trader, "The keep looks a bit different."

"Ah, yes. While you were away whole family pitched in and we've been clearing out the keep ever since."

"Nice work," Lenya smiled, "It's a lot less gloomy than it was."

"Yes, it's hard to believe there was undead and demons moving around here," Levi said, "But I'm sure you didn't come here just to talk about what we've done to the keep."

"No, we didn't," Lenya said, "Leliana and Alistair seem to think that your brother could make me an armor and as you can see I am really in need of one."

"They are right," Levi said and gave an odd look to Alistair and Leliana. Lenya turned to look at the pair and both of them suddenly found something else to look at. What was going on here? - she thought, "This way Warden," Levi said and set off to the other side of the courtyard where someone had set up a smithy.

"Am I missing something?" Lenya asked from no one in particular as she walked behind Levi.

"Ah, you're the Warden who helped our family," A rough looking man, who only barely resembled Levi, said when they approach the smithy.

"Yes. You could say that," Lenya said.

"I have your armor ready," The man said, "Only final refitting needs to be done."

"My armor...?" Lenya said looking puzzled, "How can you already have an armor for me when I just came to ask if you can make me one?" She asked, confused.

"Ah," The man said, "Levi told me that your friends there asked me to refit the armor, you found from here, to a female elf."

"My... You... I... But...?" Lenya didn't know what to say. She remembered the armor. It was gorgeous and she'd felt bad about selling it. She'd never imagined that Leliana and Alistair would go behind her back and arrange something like this. Suddenly she felt light headed and she had to take support from something. Tears started to flow down her cheeks. This simple gesture from her companions meant more to her than they probably understood. It confirmed her that Leliana had been right. She was not alone. They may not be elves, but they were her friends and she was not alone.

Two sets of arms wrapped her in a hug. She could smell Alistair's armor and even through that, the mild flowery scent that belonged to Leliana. Neither of them said anything. They just held her there.

Then, just when her tears dried up, they let her go. She could not find words to thank them for what they'd done, but she knew that they understood anyway.

"Lets..." Lenya said and cleared her throat, "Lets see the refitting then," She did not know what the smith thought about her breaking down in front of him and she didn't care. She was not alone anymore.

* * *

><p>"It was worth everything," Leliana said to Alistair as they watched Lenya go inside with the smith.<p>

"Yes," Alistair said absentmindedly and he had a look on his face like he'd decided something and Leliana wasn't quite sure he even knew she was there. She saw him take a one single rose from his belt pouch and studying it in silence.

"What is that?" Leliana asked.

"Oh..." Alistair seemed to wake up, "It's nothing... just something I picked up in Lothering," He blushed and then left her standing there alone.

How could a rose from Lothering still be fresh like that? - Leliana thought and then shook her head. She must have understood his words wrong somehow.

Still shaking her head Leliana went to see if Wynne needed help with preparing the food.

* * *

><p>Leliana was sitting at the fire with everyone else when she heard the door opening from the smiths shop and saw the smith stepping out.<p>

Then she saw a light reflecting from something silvery and Lenya stepped out wearing the Warden Commander armor like she'd born with it. Silverite and gold gleamed in the light of setting sun.. She'd seen the armor on Sophia and it had been gorgeous then, but there was no words she could find right now, to describe how gorgeous that armor looked on Lenya.

There was no doubt that the armor belonged to Lenya. Lenya had always demanded attention. Now, Leliana felt like she should kneel in front of her. She was damn certain that she was not alone in that. Quick glance on Alistair confirmed that.

Lenya walked to them and despite wearing full plate armor she moved like a cat. There was a hint of a smile on her lips and her eyes shined, "What do you think?" She asked after a while. Like she didn't even see their awestruck expressions.

"My dear lady," Zevran broke the silence and actually knelt, "In all my travels I've never witnessed such beauty and I would pledge my sword to you in an instant..." He said in awe.

"...if you hadn't already done that," Lenya finished his sentence and smiled at him.

"Exactly," Zevran nodded and stood up.

"You... you look breathtaking, Lenya," Leliana said, finally getting her mouth open, "You've meant to wear that armor."

"Ma Serannas, Lethallan," Lenya said to her, "I can't thank you two enough for this. There are no words that would express what this means to me."

"You are beautiful," Alistair finally managed to say and it also made him blush.

"Ma Serannas, Alistair," Lenya smiled at him, "You're just happy that you're not the only Tinman anymore," She added and grinned at him.

"I could never compare myself to you," Alistair said, "There is no way I could make moving in armor look like I've born to do it."

"You're too kind, but I do feel a bit clumsy at the moment," Lenya said and it took all Leliana's concentration to not let her jaw drop. Lenya thought herself clumsy? - Leliana thought - When she moved like she was not even wearing heavy armor, "It will take a bit before I get used to how to move while wearing armor like this again," Then she turned to look at Levi's brother, Mikhail, "Thank you, Mikhail. The armor fits perfectly."

"Thank you, Warden," Mikhail said and nodded, "You should try how fighting in it feels, however, before you leave from here."

"You might be right," Lenya nodded and then turned to look back at them, "Who wants to fight against me?" She asked and unsheathed her weapons. That fluid motion, when she did that, was really contradicting her statement of being clumsy.

"I will," Leliana said and got up. She nodded towards Zevran who gave her his sword. It had been a long time since she'd fought with sword and dagger, but few swings brought the memory of how, back to her mind. She was sure that she was nowhere near Lenya's skill, but she'd wanted to spar with her for a sometime now. Ever since she'd seen her practicing against Alistair before they went to the tower.

Lenya lifted her eyes on hers and smiled. Then she sheathed her dagger and made a taunting 'come get me' motion with her hand.

Leliana started to circle her, but Lenya answered all her steps without thinking. She still had not brought her dagger back out.

Leliana's first strike was met with ease and Lenya still only used her sword. That made her do fast strikes with both of her weapons, but Lenya parried those easily, "You can do better than that, Lethallan," Lenya said and then she unsheathed her dagger, "You have to," She added and then she attacked.

All Leliana could do was to defend herself. Lenya was too fast, too skilled and too distracting. She found herself admiring her instead of trying to find way to counter her attacks. Lenya's eyes were like two shining blue stars and she was enjoying herself immensely. There was nothing clumsy in her movements. Her armor didn't seem to hinder her movements at all.

"Lethallan, you can't beat me if your mind is not in the fight," Lenya said as she sent Leliana's sword and dagger flying. Tip of Lenya's sword was under her chin, touching it slightly.

"And there is nothing clumsy in you, Lenya," Leliana said smiling and then it struck her. What Lenya had been calling her. Lethallan. She remembered what Lenya had told her about the meaning of that word. You used it only for a very close friend or a kin. And Lenya had been using it first time at the clearing where she'd buried her clan. Warm feeling blossomed inside her and she smiled at Lenya.

"Well, you put something like this on and then we see how graceful you feel in it," Lenya chuckled and withdrew her sword from Leliana's neck, "You are good with the sword and dagger... for a beginner," She said and sheathed her weapons.

"Thank you... I think," Leliana said and tried to find where her weapons flew.

"Here, my deadly sex goddesses," Zevran said and handed her dagger back to her. He already had his sword sheathed on his back, "If either of you need some tension relieved from your muscles after such exertions, I am at your disposal, my dear ladies," He said in a flirting tone.

"No, Zevran," Leliana shook her head, "I don't need a massage and I won't be sleeping with you either."

"You are still missing the good parts," Lenya said smiling.

"You two are very cruel women," Zevran sais, "Maybe I have more luck with our beautiful witch then," He added and turned to look at Morrigan.

"Only if you want to be turned into a toad, fool," Morrigan said without even turning to look at Zevran.

"Such a cruel world I have been thrust," Zevran said theatrically.

Leliana shook her head. Zevran really was insufferable. Lenya seemed to like him though and Alistair really did not. Which was clearly evident from his expression at the moment. He looked like he was about to explode and strangle Zevran.

"It does seem that the armor fits perfectly," Leliana said, trying to turn Alistair's focus out of Zevran.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "When I get used to the added weight I should be able to move like I've used to."

Leliana really did not know how could Lenya say that she was clumsy. She moved with same elegance as she'd always done and the armor didn't seem to hinder her at all.

"Alistair," Lenya said then.

"Yes, Lenya?" Alistair asked, shaking his head and returning to the present, from where ever his mind had been. Torturing or killing Zevran probably.

"Mikhail said he has armors ready that we could buy for you," Lenya said, "They are not as good as this one, but they are really good regardless and you do need better armor as well."

"Can we afford it?" Alistair asked.

"Mikhail promised to sell the armor to us with the cost of the materials. He won't charge from the work," Lenya said, "And with all the stuff we've looted we have enough extra so we can arm ourselves better before we head towards Orzammar."

"Don't forget that you promised that I can work on the starmetal, Warden," Mikhail said.

"I remember," Lenya said, "Shale, could you bring the metal here?" She asked from the golem. Lenya was always polite to Shale. She never ordered it to do something.

"As it wishes," Shale said and brought the heavy lump of metal to Mikhail, so he could look at it.

"Yes," Mikhail said, "This is indeed starmetal."

"What can you do from it?" Lenya asked.

"I should be able to make two swords from this," Mikhail said.

She could sense Lenya's excitement and so could everyone one else. They all knew her fascination to swords, "Could you make two identical long swords with same kind of ornamental motifs as this armor has?" Lenya asked and tapped the golden Grey Warden gryphon etched at the chest of her armor.

"You mean golden gryphons and the like?" Mikhail asked.

"Yes and so that they are balanced for dual weapon fighting," Lenya explained.

"I can do that, but it will take three days at least," Mikhail said.

Leliana could see that Lenya was struggling between her desire for the swords and what she knew to be her duty. She knew that if it became Lenya's decision she would make them leave.

Just as she was about to say that they could spare the time Alistair did so, "We can spare few days, Lenya. We could all use some time for resting."

It still took a while before Lenya nodded, "I guess we can spare few days for resting," She looked very guilty though. Like she was sure she was doing something she shouldn't, "Alistair's armor is priority though."

"Understood, Warden," Mikhail said and motioned Alistair to follow him.

* * *

><p>Lenya was standing at the fortress wall, watching how the stars came out. She was still wearing her new armor. Even though she knew they would not continue journey today or even on the next day. She kept telling herself that she had to get used to the armor and that was why she'd not changed to more comfortable camp clothing.<p>

"Who are you trying to kid, Lenya," Lenya said aloud, "You are wearing the armor because it is damn gorgeous," Leliana had been right. She really didn't feel clumsy in this armor. Because it was mainly made out of silverite, it was far lighter than anything made out of steel, red steel or veridium would be. When you added her increased strength, it was like she was wearing a light armor.

"Came to watch the stars as well, Alistair?" Lenya asked without turning. She'd sensed his familiar sense in the taint. It still felt a bit creepy that she could feel him like that and it didn't help at all, that she knew, that Alistair could feel her the same way.

"Yes... I mean no," Alistair said stumbling in his words. Lenya turned to look at him questioningly, "I wanted to talk to you," He said nervously and he was hiding something in his hands.

"Oh?" Lenya said and lifted her brow.

Alistair became more nervous and then he brought his hand forward, "Here, look at this," There was a single red rose in it, "Do you know what it is?" He asked.

Lenya looked at the flower and then Alistair. Not quite sure what to say. She was about to say a rose, but anyone could see that it was a rose, "Erm, your new weapon of choice?" She asked in the end.

"Yes, that's right! Watch as I thrash our enemies with the mighty power of floral arrangements! Feel my thorns, darkspawn! I will overpower you with my rosy scent!" Alistair said and she had to chuckle at that, "Or, you know, it could just be a rose. I know that's pretty dull in comparison."

"Okay, it's a rose," Lenya said and looked at him, little puzzled. Waiting him to get to the point.

"I picked it in Lothering," Alistair said and that made Lenya look at the rose again. How, by the Creators, it was still alive? "I remember thinking, how could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness?" He continued in a soft voice, "I probably should have left it alone, but I couldn't. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it. So I've had it ever since."

It was something Lenya would expect him to do. Save the flower so it would not get tainted by the darkspawn. He really was a puzzling man. Even for a shem, "That's a nice sentiment," She said and smiled at him.

He blushed and got even more nervous. Was she really that hard to talk to? - Lenya thought, "I thought that I might... give it to you, actually," He said finally bringing Lenya's musings to a halt - He what? "In a lot of ways, I think the same thing when I look at you."

By the Creators, he was giving her flowers. For the first time since she'd met Alistair she did not quite know what to say, "You think me as a gentle flower?" Lenya managed to ask. Gentle and flower was not the words you used to describe her.

"I guess it's a bit silly, isn't it?" Alistair said smiling at her. She could only nod at him, "I just thought, here I am doing all this complaining, and you haven't exactly been having a good time of it, yourself," He continued and she nodded again, "You've had none of the good experiences of being a Grey Warden since your Joining. Not a word of thanks or congratulations. It's all been death and fighting and tragedy," He continued with a gentle tone. Lenya felt that the tears were not far, again. These shems, she was traveling with, continued to surprise her, "I thought maybe I could say something. Tell you what a rare and wonderful thing you are to find amidst all this... darkness," He continued and lifted her chin so their eyes met.

What Lenya saw in Alistair eyes brought her back to the present. He was courting her. That made her sigh. She really didn't want to hurt Alistair, but she also couldn't give him what he was asking. Gently she wrapped his fingers around the rose, "I thank you for the beautiful words and for thinking of me, but I can't accept this."

Alistair face fell and she cursed silently, "It's because I'm a human, isn't it?" Alistair asked, "I've seen how well you get along with that assassin," He said accusingly and turned away from her.

"Alistair, look at me," Lenya said gently, but with a voice that made him turn, "The fact that you are human has nothing to do with why I can't accept this rose," She said when he was again looking at her. That actually surprised even herself. Even as shortly as half a year ago a mere thought that human might court her would have filled her with disgust and her she was now rejecting Alistair, not because he was human, but because of his gender.

"What else could it be," Alistair scoffed.

"Do you remember what I told Zevran when he offered his massage after Leliana and I sparred?" Lenya asked. Not wanting to just hammer the fact into his head. Somehow she felt it would be better if he figured it out himself.

He looked a bit puzzled, but nodded, "You said that he was missing all the good parts."

"You and Zevran have a thing in common with that," Lenya lead him on.

"But... I don't have anything in common with him," Alistair said indignantly.

"You have at least one thing in common," Lenya said and then sighed. He was not going to get it, "You are both men." She finally said.

"But, what..." Then Alistair's face brightened and turned almost comical, "You like women?" He asked with an unsure voice. Then he blushed, "And the parts that are missing..." His eyes dropped on Lenya's breasts and started to go lower before he pulled his eyes up and then he blushed a bit more.

"Yes, Alistair, I like women and those are the parts I mean," Lenya said smiling. He tried to look just about anywhere else, but her. She waited him to get himself together, which took a quite long time, before she asked, "Can you understand now, why I can't accept the rose?"

"Yes," Alistair nodded. He was not happy about it, but he understood, "Is that why you enjoy Leliana's company so much?"

"I haven't thought about it, but it's possible," Lenya said after thinking it a bit, "But she's also been there for me when I've needed a friend. She is the only one who'd always come to talk to me. Even after I gave her nothing but angry words and even death threats. It's hard not to respect her for that alone."

"I've never understood how she found courage to go and talk to you," Alistair said, "You are really intimidating and scary."

"What?" Lenya said indignantly, "What happen to the gentle flower part?" She asked and grinned at him.

"I think you scared it away," Alistair grinned.

"Ha ha," Lenya smiled at him, "Are we okay?" She asked then.

"I'm embarrassed and want the earth to open up and swallow me, but we are okay, Lenya," He said, "I'll leave you alone now. I think I need some time alone as well."

"As you wish," Lenya nodded, "And, Alistair..." He turned to look at her, "...thank you for what you said. I won't forget it."

"You're welcome, Lenya," Alistair said and then he was gone.

After he was gone, Lenya turned and watched the stars.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's it for the chapter. As this story progresses I'm starting to find out that there will be quite a few traveling chapters. I'm finding them very well suited for developing character relationships and also handling little things like confrontations with bandits and the like for example. Just need to be careful not to over use them.**

**The Warden Commander armor I use in this story and in my game is not the same one you get from the Peak. I'm using a mod called Runic Grey Warden armor and I like the look of that armor more than the normal one you get from the Peak. And I'm sure all of you noticed I left Starfang out completely and made Mikhail do two identical swords for Lenya instead. Design for those swords comes also from the Runic Grey Warden armor mod.**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are always welcome.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Chapter 15 and it seems we have an another traveling chapter. It is a long journey to the Orzammar after all.**

**I wish to thank everyone who have read this far. Special thanks to those who have fave/alerted. Very special thanks to those who reviewed. Extra special thanks and hugs for the invaluable support go to my dear friend Faelan.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belong to Bioware. Everything you don't recognize belong to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, January 2014: Fixed grammatical and other errors.**

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><p><strong>En route to the Orzammar<strong>

Alistair studied his opponent carefully. One slip and Lenya would hand his own ass to him... again. She would most likely do it anyway, but he was determined to make her work for it this time.

Ever since they'd left from the Peak, two weeks ago, Lenya had made them all practice before they settled in at the camp and ate. Alistair would have complained much more about that, if someone else would have suggested something like that, but Lenya had the huge Warden appetite as well. So if she could do it, then he had better be able to do the same.

Alistair noticed too late that he'd let his mind wander when Lenya moved, he could only register her attacks in a blur and then he was sitting on the ground, "Keep your mind in the fight, Alistair. Don't let it wander, no matter what you might see or no matter what might distract you. Even if you see a darkspawn wearing a bright red dress and he's asking for a mirror to see how he looks in it, you don't let your mind wander."

"Yes, Lenya," He didn't dare to laugh at the image of darkspawn in the red dress. He did hear Zevran and Leliana laughing though.

"Now, get up and try again," Lenya commanded and pulled him up.

Alistair did as she commanded and they started their sparring again. They didn't get to finish the round however, as the familiar sensation at the back of his head told him, that they were about to get attacked by the darkspawn. Lenya nodded at him. She'd felt them as well and her eyes had a soft blue glow in them.

"You all better get ready," Lenya said and turned to look at their audience.

"Why...?" Leliana started and then she just said, "...Oh!" She most likely noticed Lenya's eyes. Alistair had talked about that with Leliana, when she'd asked about the glow, even she didn't feel brave enough to go ask about that from Lenya. He'd told his guess of what that might be and now it seemed that they were getting confirmation.

"Everyone remember to take the potion," Lenya said, "I don't want to end up killing you just because you forgot to do that."

"Yes, Lenya," Came almost unanimous reply from their companions. Alistair thanked the Maker for that potion. It was hard as hell to prepare or so Morrigan and Wynne said, but it was worth the trouble. He also thanked the Maker for Lenya. Even when she had been suffering from the hangover, she'd remembered the potion and that they needed Lyrium. So she'd sent Wynne and him back to the Tower, to buy as much of the lyrium sand as possible.

"Are you sure they know we are here?" Zevran asked. This was his first encounter with the darkspawn.

"Yes," Lenya replied, "We can feel them and they can feel us," She explained, "And there is an emissary in this group so there is no way we can avoid them."

"And even if we could avoid them, we can't leave them wandering here," Alistair said, "They would just attack someone who isn't prepared to deal with them."

"Exactly," Lenya nodded, "Here they come," She then added and even the non Wardens noticed them now. Noises the creatures were making were easily heard.

* * *

><p>Zevran's first battle against the darkspawn was messy and more than little disconcerting. Hideous creatures didn't care about finesse. They just wanted him dead.<p>

And they almost succeeded at it when he got distracted by Lenya and Alistair. He'd seen them both fighting before, but only now he saw them fighting against the enemy their order was meant to fight. When the rest of the group had one or two of the creatures attacking them both Wardens took three or four without breaking a stride.

"Lenya will kill you if you get yourself hurt while watching her and Alistair," Leliana said and killed a hurlock that was about to ran him through.

"Just look at them," Zevran said and returned his attention to the battle.

"I know," Leliana smiled and fired another arrow to the attacking darkspawn.

Then a shout broke Zevran's and Leliana's concentration. He turned to look and saw Lenya collapse, but there was nothing near her and he didn't see any arrows on her.

"Kill the emissary now!" Alistair yelled and hurried to shield Lenya from attacks that were surely coming.

Answer to Alistair's command was an arrow and two spells hitting the emissary and killing it instantly.

Rest of the battle didn't last long. The darkspawn seemed to get less organized when the emissary died. They were still attacking and dangerous, but there was no coordination on their attacks.

When he and Sten killed the last one, Alistair and Leliana were already kneeling beside Lenya.

* * *

><p>"Don't you go and die on me now or I'll be really mad at you," Alistair was saying to the unconscious Lenya, when Leliana got to them. He was holding her in his arms and gently stroking Lenya's hair.<p>

Lenya looked unharmed, except for the blood that had flowed from her nose.

"Let me look at her," Wynne said and shooed them away. Neither of them went anywhere though, "Now, young man, you will carry her to her tent and then go wash up," Wynne commanded Alistair who after a moment of hesitation lifted Lenya up from the ground. If she'd not been so worried about Lenya, she'd might have wondered Alistair's strength. Lenya was after all fully armored and he lifted her like she weighed nothing.

After he got Lenya to the tent Wynne drove both of them away.

"What happen to her?" Leliana asked.

"She used a Smite on the emissary," Alistair explained, "She's barely learned how to do it while she's sitting still and no way in the world she should have tried to use it in a fight," He continued, "The strain was too much for her."

"Is she going to be alright?" Leliana asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Alistair shook his head, "What she did, Leliana, is something that takes templars months of rigorous practice before they can do it in battle. I've only taught her for a few weeks. She shouldn't been able to do that."

"You did tell her that she shouldn't try it on fight?" Leliana asked.

"Yes, but even if I would have not said anything, she should have enough sense not to try it," Alistair said and sighed.

Wynne interrupted them, when she came out of Lenya's tent, "Is she alright?" Leliana asked as soon as the old mage was out.

"She's going to be alright," Wynne said, "She has a headache and bright lights seem to hurt her eyes."

"Did she say anything?" Alistair asked, "Like why she did what she did."

"No, nothing like that," Wynne shook her head, "She just told me to go fuss somewhere else and that she's fine."

"Sounds like her," Leliana chuckled, "Can we go see her?"

"If she lets you in, I don't see any reason why not. Just don't make loud noises or bright lights," Wynne replied and then left them standing there.

Leliana watched Alistair and they both were gathering courage to call Lenya and ask if they could see her. Then she shrugged and knelt down in front of Lenya's tent, "Lenya," She called softly.

"Yes, Leliana?" Came reply from the tent. Her voice sounded much weaker than usual.

"Can we come in?" Leliana asked.

"Depends on what you mean by the word we," Lenya replied, "If you want to bring Shale in for example then no, you can't come, but if you mean Alistair, then yes, you can come in."

"I mean Alistair," Leliana said and Lenya made a sound that probably meant that she knew that and she should stop babbling or something like that.

When they got in, Lenya was lying on her back and she was shielding her eyes with her hand. She was still in full armor, except for gloves.

"Why didn't Wynne remove your armor?" Leliana asked.

"Like I'd let a mage try to remove my armor if my life is not depending on it. Not sure I would let her touch the straps even then," Lenya said, "I'll remove it when my head doesn't ring quite as much as it does now."

"That was incredibly stupid thing to do, Lenya," Alistair said, "You were not ready to use Smite and you should have known that," He added angrily.

"I did not have a choice," Lenya said and removed her hand from her eyes, which made her wince, but she did not cover her eyes again.

"What could have been so damn important that you go risk your life like that?" Alistair asked angrily. Worry he'd felt for Lenya was now coming out. Leliana knew how he felt. She was ready to slap Lenya silly and then hug her until she fainted.

"Leliana, Wynne, Morrigan and Zevran," Lenya replied calmly and Leliana looked at her questioningly. It didn't make sense - Leliana thought - Why would they make her do something like that? "Emissary was preparing to launch a fireball at them and using the smite was the only way I could stop it in time. If there had been other way I'd taken that, but there wasn't, so I used what I could and I'm not going to apologize for it," Lenya explained and that made blood drain from her face. She'd risked her own life to save her, again. Well her, Wynne, Morrigan and Zevran.

"You... You... can't... " Alistair started, but he didn't find the words, because he knew that Lenya was right, "You need to be more careful. I can't do this without you." He finally said.

"Alistair," Lenya sighed wearily, "What did Duncan say to you about the battles?" She asked then.

Alistair lowered his eyes to the ground and muttered, "That anyone of us can die in battle."

"What we are, Alistair, is fighters. There is no way around that fact and neither there is uncertainty that we are going to die in battle. Only thing that is uncertain is when that will happen." Lenya said, "If I die tomorrow, I will expect you to defeat this Blight and save what I could not. Because if you are going to start moping and saying you can't do that. I will come back and beat the Creators out of you, even if I'd have to go through the Creators in order to do that," Even with her voice weak, there was a fire within her. Leliana doubted even death could extinguish that, "Go make sure that the camp is set properly and that everyone knows what to do," She ordered Alistair then.

"Okay, I'll do that, but you will see that you get better or I may need to beat the Creators out of you for getting yourself this way," Alistair said and turned to leave.

"Yeah, sure, threaten the cripple," Lenya said and Leliana could see smile forming on Alistair's lips as he steps out of the tent. She was about to follow him when Lenya's hand touched her arm.

"No, Leliana, stay," Lenya said and she turned to look at her questioningly, "I need help getting the armor off. My head is ringing very unpleasantly and I don't want to pass out while I try to remove this."

Leliana's breath threatened to catch on her throat when she thought about helping Lenya out of her armor and from her clothes she wore under her armor. She was not at all sure, she could handle seeing Lenya without, or in little to nothing, clothes. She was also horrified of herself for thinking such things when Lenya was hurt.

"I'll be happy to help," She finally managed.

"Ma Serannas, Lethallan," Lenya said smiling, "Help me sit."

It did take a considerable time to get Lenya's armor off. Lenya had to lie down from time to time because she started to feel dizzy and nauseated.

"The under tunic as well," Lenya said weakly and started to remove it.

Leliana held her breath when the last of Lenya's clothes were removed, but to her relief she could handle Lenya's nakedness without blushing or starting to babble. She couldn't help herself from admiring Lenya or stop the fluttering in her stomach though, when she touched Lenya's skin as she helped her back to her bedroll.

"Sleep well, Lethallan," Leliana said to Lenya when she was tugged in her bedroll.

"Ma Serannas, Lethallan," Lenya said sleepily, "I am... glad... you're... here..." She continued as she drifted into the sleep. Leliana could barely hear the last words.

Leliana sat there and watched how Lenya's breathing became relaxed and peaceful. Then she sat there watching over her sleep. She didn't know why she did that. Was she wishing that her presence could keep the Grey Warden nightmares away or did she just want to guard Lenya in general. Only thing she knew was that she should be right there.

Wet nose poked on her hand and made her flinch, "Came to watch your mistress?" Leliana whispered to Abelas who watched Lenya and whined a little, "Wynne said she will be alright," She continued and Abelas turned his big head towards her. There was a question in them, "Yes, I'm sure. She just needs some sleep," Abelas tilted his head and let out a soft quiet bark, "Yes, I'm guarding her," Abelas let out approving sound and licked her hand.

After that they just sat there, quietly watching over the woman they both cared for.

* * *

><p>When it became clear that Leliana would not come out of Lenya's tent, Alistair felt a twinge of jealousy. He'd not been able to stop those even after Lenya had told him she was not interested in men. He suspected that part of that was because of the taint. He was the only one in their group who could sense her and somehow small part of him had wrapped his head around that fact and thought that Lenya was his. Which was damn stupid thing to do. Lenya did not belong to anyone, but herself and she would kill anyone who even tried to suggest otherwise.<p>

Shaking his head Alistair gave orders to set up the camp properly and then he actually was surprised when they did as he ordered. It had to be because of Lenya. No one would follow him, now would they? Whole idea felt ridiculous to him. He was no leader. Bad things happen when he tried to lead.

Alistair could not shake away Lenya's words though. She had made it his duty to carry on if she died. Save what she couldn't. He was sure that she had meant her clan.

"How is our leader?" Zevran asked him and sat beside him. For once Zevran did not try to flirt or drive Alistair crazy.

"Her head hurts badly, but other than that she is alright," Alistair replied, "Wynne says she's going to recover fully."

"Ah, that is wonderful to hear," Zevran said smiling, "It would be a great tragedy to lose something so gorgeous."

"Don't you ever stop that?" Alistair asked and sighed.

"Stop what, my dear Alistair?" Zevran asked and now his voice was flirting again.

"That," Alistair rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid not," Zevran chuckled.

"I was afraid of that," Alistair sighed again and then turned to look at him, "How did that work on Lenya?" He asked a bit nastily.

"Badly," Zevran replied, grinning happily, "It is not the nicest thing to hear, that one lacks all the good parts, from the woman you're wooing," He chuckled. Obviously he was not too broken about it.

"I can imagine," Alistair chuckled at that image. Not that his own wooing of Lenya had ended any better. Now that he looked back of his time with Lenya, she'd given plenty of signs of her likes. Her comments of Morrigan breasts and stuff like that.

"How was it for you then, my templar friend?" Zevran asked making Alistair curse. He should have known better to keep his mouth shut about Zevran's flirting with Lenya.

"As you can expect," Alistair sighed. It was better to just answer to Zevran's questions than let him come up with his own explanations of the events, "I still am pretty annoyed of you and Leliana. Someone should have told me."

"And what would that accomplished?" Zevran asked, "It's not like you can just go and out of the blue say something like that, now can you? You would have just thought we were trying to keep you away from her, for our own gain," Alistair almost growled at him. Why was he so damn logical? He was right of course. He would have thought like that. Although it never had occurred him that Leliana might be interested in Lenya like that, "You my, templar friend, are deliciously innocent," Zevran said smiling.

"You just keep your distance, Zevran," Alistair warned Zevran off, "I don't want massages, or anything else for that matter, from you."

"It is too bad, I could do things to you that you couldn't even imagine," Zevran said smiling a sad smile.

"I have no doubt about that," Alistair rolled his eyes, "Go bother someone else for a while," He said then. In these past weeks, since they had left from the Peak, he had became Zevran's favorite target for all kinds of sexual innuendos. Alistair didn't know what even half of the things Zevran suggested him, were. Weird part was that he did get along with Zevran quite well. He did not trust him, but he did get along with him.

"As you command my, knight," Zevran chuckled, but he did leave him alone. He followed him with his eyes and shook his head. Zevran was insufferable.

He gave one more look at Lenya's tent and then got up and went to see if the food was ready.

* * *

><p>When Lenya opened her eyes she felt better. The headache was not completely gone, but the light from outside didn't bother her anymore. She did feel a bit exhausted though. Not physically, but mentally. Which wasn't that big of a surprise when you considered what she'd done. All the templar abilities were more or less mentally executed. Even if the power came from within your body.<p>

Moving slowly she sat up and found out that she was not alone in the tent. Leliana was sleeping on the ground, her hands wrapped around Abelas and her head resting at his back. Position she was must be really uncomfortable.

"Why did she stay here instead of going to sleep on her own tent?" Lenya asked from Abelas who just tilted his head a bit, "She was guarding me?" That thought filled her with unexpected warmth, "From what?" She asked and got soft whine as an answer, "From the nightmares?" She said, shocked. Abelas nodded his huge head as a confirmation.

Thought that Leliana had chosen to stay in her tent and sleep on hard cold ground just to guard her dreams against the darkspawn nightmares made Lenya feel... she didn't quite know how to put what she was feeling into words.

Lenya sat up and moved on her knees until she was beside Leliana and touched her shoulder gently, "Ummm... What?" Leliana said and opened her eyes. She blinked her eyes few times before they focused on Lenya. Then they snapped open and her face flushed red as the blush consumed it, "Oh my!..." Leliana managed to say and turned her head so she didn't see her anymore. Lenya watched her, confused and then, when she looked down, she found the reason. She didn't have any clothes on. She never had, if possible, when she slept.

"Sorry," Lenya said, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," She said and tried to find her underwear. She wasn't sure what in her nudity bothered Leliana so much, but she didn't want to offend her. Maybe shems just were not as comfortable with nudity as the Dalish were. Might even be against the Chantry's laws or something.

Lenya managed to find her underwear and her camp clothes, "Better?" She asked after she'd put her clothes on.

Leliana gave her a fast look and then she smiled, "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Better," Lenya replied, "Headache is almost gone and the light doesn't hurt my eyes anymore."

"You really had us worried there," Leliana said.

"I gathered as much when Alistair managed to threaten me," Lenya chuckled, "To get him show some of that spine, I know he has, is almost worth the headache."

"Don't you go getting any ideas of putting yourself in danger just to get Alistair grow up," Leliana said sternly.

"I may be crazy, but not that much, Leliana," Lenya smiled and then gave Leliana more serious look, "You stayed to watch over my sleep," She said and Leliana lowered her eyes instantly.

"Yes," Leliana said with voice that was almost too quiet for Lenya to hear, "I didn't want you to be alone."

"Ma Serannas, Lethallan," Lenya said. She did not know what else to say. She also thought that she'd really grown since she left from the clan. If someone would have told her several months ago that she would someday be perfectly alright to find out that a shem had been watching over her when she slept, she'd thought them to be dangerous and delusional lunatics. Now she felt just that warm safe feeling. Which was bugging her a little.

"You're welcome, Lenya," Leliana smiled at her.

"You must be a stiff as a board for sleeping like that," Lenya then pointed out, "And I can't imagine Abelas smells very good at that close," She added and got hurtful whine from Abelas.

"Walking a bit might do me some good and you are not wrong about the smell," Leliana said and stood up as much as the tent let her. Abelas gave her a growl, "I'm sorry, boy, but it is the truth. Your smell is rather... forcefully," Abelas let out a sad whine.

"Let's go out then," Lenya decided and opened the tent flap. Even thought the brightness didn't hurt her eyes anymore it wasn't totally pleasant either, "Quite bright," She said and stumble

d out. Leliana followed her.

"You sure you're up for this?" Leliana asked worriedly.

"I'm sure," Lenya nodded.

"Well, look who's awake," Alistair's voice greeted her and then he walks in her view.

"Morning, Alistair," Lenya said.

"Morning?" Alistair raised his brow, "It's well over midday already."

"What!?" Lenya exclaimed, "Why did you let me sleep so long?"

"Because you were hurt and because Wynne said that we shouldn't wake you unless it's absolutely necessary. Like if we were under attack or something," Alistair replied.

Lenya cursed. One more day wasted because of her. If she would continue like this, it would be a miracle if the Blight didn't consume whole Ferelden.

"Don't," Leliana said with a very stern voice, "You can't blame yourself for getting hurt and you don't help anyone if you just collapse because you're too stubborn to see that you need rest," She continued, "For once, think of yourself instead of others," She finished.

Lenya stared at Leliana, amazed. No one talked to her like that. Not even Marethari had ever talked to her like that. She'd let her know that, that was what she was thinking, but she'd never said it to her. And she was damn sure no shem had ever spoken to her like that.

"Please, don't kill her," Lenya heard Alistair whisper to himself. Clearly he didn't dare to speak to her at the moment. He was such a big sissy, sometimes.

"Well, that was refreshing. I don't think anyone has ever spoken to me like that," Lenya said and smiled at Leliana who was a bit horrified of what she'd just done. She chuckled at that and then turned to look at Alistair, "Since I seem to be too stubborn to see things clearly at the moment. You, Alistair, are the leader of this merry band of lunatics until I'm well."

"I'm what?" Alistair yelped. He was panicking, "No, no... if I lead, bad things happen."

"By the Creators. I didn't ask you to lead us against the archdemon, now did I? Just to lead us until I'm not being stubborn anymore. No need to wet yourself over that," Lenya shook her head. She wondered what she'd had to do to make Alistair figure out that he was not a complete idiot and that he actually possessed skills. She really did hate the Chantry for making him feel so useless. Templar training crushed all the independence of the trainees and replaced it with blind obedience to their ridiculous laws. The Chantry didn't train soldiers. It trained a damn slaves.

"But..." Alistair started to protest.

"No buts!" Lenya growled at him, "Go lead, damn you. You're giving me a headache," Alistair stared at her, his eyes wild and open wide. Then he left.

Lenya followed him with her eyes and then sighed. She pretty much had the same people skills as hurlocks did.

"You're really not used to taking things easy?" Leliana asked.

"I don't know what the word easy means," Lenya shrugged, "Come then. Let's go for a walk," She headed towards the edge of the camp, Leliana just behind her.

* * *

><p>It took a while, but the panic, Lenya's decision to make him a leader caused, had started to fade. Alistair still feared he would lead them into something bad though. Not that there was much chance of that at the moment since he'd ordered them to stay here at least one more day. He would not make Lenya travel until she was better.<p>

Which reminded him that he'd had to go ask Wynne's opinion of when Lenya might be better. That only required that Lenya would even let Wynne to check on her. Stubborn woman.

As he was thinking that, Alistair saw Sten return into the camp. Which meant that it was Shale's turn to guard the camp. Sten had been more eager to move forward lately. Like he was expecting to find something from the Orzammar.

Alistair got up and went to talk to the qunari. It was time to find out what that was.

"Why are you following her?" Alistair asked from Sten. With Sten it was better just to go to the point without any smoothing things out. Alistair knew he couldn't use Lenya's way. Which was pretty much _'tell me or I beat the shit out of you'_. Sten respected Lenya and he might even think her as his equal in the battlefield, but he was quite sure that Sten did not respect him.

"I swore to help her to end the Blight," Sten replied.

"Yes, but lately you've been even more enthusiastic about it," Alistair said, "Like you've found some other reason as well to follow her."

"The witch is correct," Sten just said, "You are annoying."

"It's something of a hobby of mine," Alistair said, "But, you didn't answer my question."

"I did," Sten just said.

"Ah, of course," Alistair said. Speaking with the qunari was really annoying, "Now, what other reason there is that you follow her?"

Sten didn't answer immediately. It seemed that he was thinking should he answer at all. When he finally did answer the answer was not what he'd expected, "She is helping me to find my sword."

"You have a sword," Alistair said and pointed at the huge two-handed sword on his back.

"You wouldn't understand," Sten said, "She understands," He added, looking at something behind Alistair. He turned to look there and saw Lenya and Leliana returning from their walk.

"Make me understand," Alistair said then. If Lenya could understand it, surely he could as well.

"No," Sten just said.

"Why not?" Alistair asked confused.

"You can't teach a fish to fly," Sten just said.

"You... You're impossible," Alistair managed. He was sure that Sten had just insulted him somehow.

"I know," Sten said.

Alistair stared at the qunari for a moment and then threw his hands in the air in defeat. Shaking his head he decided to go and see if he could get better answer from Lenya.

"Did you have a nice talk with Sten?" Lenya asked when he got closer.

"He's...!" He started, "I mean... He's... Argh!"

"I see it went well then," Lenya chuckled at him.

"I just wanted to know why he's now so eager to move forward," Alistair said.

"His sword might be in Orzammar or at least the man who might have it should be there," Lenya replied.

"Yes, I got that much out of him, but he has a sword so why he needs an another?" Alistair asked.

"You wouldn't understand," Lenya said.

"He said that too," Alistair said angrily, "What is so damn mysterious in the swords that I wouldn't understand it?!"

Lenya sighed and then headed to her tent and returned shortly with her swords, "You see these," She said and he nodded. Swords Mikhail had made for Lenya from the starmetal were incredible, "These were made for me," She said and he nodded again. Then Lenya gave her swords to Leliana and motioned him to give his sword to her.

"This one on the other hand, was made for someone else. It wasn't made for you, but you can use it like anyone can. I could use it. It cuts like my own swords do, but this isn't mine. I don't have any connection to it," Lenya explained. She was losing him fast though. He knew Lenya's fascination to swords, but this was something more than just a fascination, "When you follow the... Vir Mi..." She seemed to be trying to find the translation to the, whatever it is that 'Vir Mi' meant, "...I guess 'Way of the Blade' would suffice," She said eventually, "When you follow the Way of the Blade, your weapon is not just merely lump of metal shaped as a sword, it's part of you. When you and your weapon are one, you will become the weapon yourself. You are complete."

"But, if that's true, then how could you change the weapon you had, for these?" Leliana asked and lifted Lenya's swords.

"Sword I had was bought from Lothering. It was a good one, but not mine. Last weapons that were mine, disappeared in the ruins were I got tainted. Weapons I had at Ostagar were one of the spare weapons of the clan that was given to me before I left with Duncan. Neither of them were mine," Lenya explained.

"What does this all have to do with Sten?" Alistair asked confused.

"By the Creators, Alistair!" Lenya said with a voice that signaled deep despair, "For the qunari his weapon is even more than it's for me. If I loose my sword, like I did at the ruins, or it breaks, I can get a new one made for me that is also mine. For the qunari it's not an option. There is nothing that can separate qunari from his sword. It's his soul. If he looses it, he's nothing. If it breaks, he breaks."

"Alright, I get it," Alistair said. Which was a lie. He liked his sword alright, but what Lenya described seemed so odd that it was almost magic.

"No you don't," Lenya shook her head and smiled.

"You got me there," Alistair admitted, "Could you tell me at least how do you know that his sword might be in Orzammar?"

"Remember that clearing we camped near the Lake Calenhad?" Lenya asked.

"You mean the one that had the feelings of Taint all around us?" Alistair asked. Neither he nor Lenya had been too happy about setting the camp in that place, but they had been exhausted and it had started to rain.

"That's the one," Lenya nodded, "As it happens that is also the place where Sten's squad got ambushed by the darkspawn and where he was the only one that survived. That was also the last place where he had his sword. I found him going through the clearing, searching his sword. Instead of finding it, we found a scavenger who told that he'd 'bought' that place from another scavenger and that it was that one who took all the good stuff. As far as the little weasel knew this man is now in Orzammar or more precisely, outside Orzammar."

"I really wouldn't want to be in the pants of that scavenger," Alistair said.

"If he gives the sword to us without a fuss he doesn't have anything to worry about," Lenya said, "If not... well, lets just say that he had it coming then."

"As I said, wouldn't want to be in his pants," Alistair smiled. He wasn't sure which one would be more scary. Lenya or Sten. He wouldn't want either to come talk to him like they were going to do to that scavenger.

"So," Lenya said and looked around the camp, "We're staying here?"

"Y-yes," Alistair said and despite trying to steel himself he stumbled over the words, "For this day at least and more if you're not well enough," He added. His voice getting more steady as he went on.

"We leave tomorrow then," Lenya said.

"Or until you're well," Alistair said, trying to get his voice sound more confident, "And you're not the one who decides if you're well enough."

"I'm not?" Lenya asked and she lifted her brow. His resolve almost crumbled at that. Dear Maker she was intimidating. Even when she was unarmed and unarmored.

"N-no," Alistair said and cursed silently. Stumbling didn't help his confidence at all. Well, neither did Lenya watching him like she was evaluating him somehow, "Wynne makes the decision."

"How wonderful," Lenya sighed and then she smiled at him, "Nicely done," She said and he cursed again. She had been evaluating him.

"You're an evil woman!" Alistair said to her.

"I know, Alistair, but thank you anyway," Lenya chuckled and then she took her swords from Leliana and left to her own tent.

"It wasn't a compliment!" Alistair yelled after her, making her laugh.

* * *

><p>Because Leliana had slept longer than others, she'd offered to take an extra shift as a guard. Alistair had managed to keep Lenya from doing her guard shift. It had been quite a show and Alistair had been sweating and shaking after Lenya had left to her tent. He seemed to be surprised that he was still alive.<p>

Lenya's injury had woken Lenya up for the possibility that Alistair might need to lead their group occasionally. It was also really clear that no matter who were in their group it was the Grey Warden who lead it. Either Lenya or if she wasn't able to do that then Alistair. Lenya never asked anyone else to lead.

Lenya was now training Alistair to be the leader if she couldn't do it. Her yelling match with Alistair about the guard duty, had been carefully planned to give him more confidence. She hadn't been the only one who'd noticed that. Zevran had seen it as well. Which wasn't surprising. What was surprising, was the skill which Lenya showed in the art of manipulation. Based on her complete lack of diplomacy and her usual blunt way of dealing with things, that kind of finesse was unexpected.

Leliana shook her head. Lenya kept surprising her and everyone else as well. Was it because they all saw her as an elf first? - She wanted to think it was not that, but after the talk with Lenya before they got back to the Peak, she'd recognized things from herself she didn't like. She'd started to look Lenya in a different way and what she saw was simply stunning.

Which had of course led Leliana to her current predicament. She was falling for Lenya and she was falling hard. She'd seen something in Lenya that suggested that she might be interested in her as well, but she wasn't sure she'd read her correctly and then there was her experience in the Fade. It had made Lenya move forward and decide that there was no future for her in the clan and more importantly no future with Merrill. Mere thought of what Lenya had endured in the Fade made Leliana's eyes tear up.

Leliana wasn't fool enough to think that Lenya had stopped loving Merrill, but apparently she was a fool enough to imagine herself with her.

Then there was her own past. None in the camp knew the whole truth about her. They knew she had been a bard. Knew at least something of what the bards did. Zevran of course knew more, but so far he'd not said anything. She wasn't sure if he just waited better moment to spring his information to the rest of the group.

If she ever wanted to have even a slightest chance with Lenya, she would need to tell her everything. The whole idea made her shudder. She didn't want to live certain parts of her past again.

"You really are not a very good guard today," A quiet whisper came behind Leliana, scaring her out of her skin.

"Stop sneaking around like that, Zevran," Leliana snapped at him after she got her breathing back in control.

"I'm not sneaking," Zevran said, "You just were thinking something really intently," He added, "And if I'd have to guess what that was... I don't think I'd be much off the target if I'd say your mind was captivated by our gorgeous leader," He continued, "If that is the case I don't blame you for the less than stellar performance in guarding the camp. I would be same way if I'd spent my night with her."

"She was injured!" Leliana hissed, "Nothing happen," She added, but couldn't quite shake the image of naked Lenya when she'd woken her up.

"Of course," Zevran said, "Your secret is safe with me," He added nodding surreptitiously. He really was insufferable.

"Why are you even here?" Leliana asked.

"It's my guard shift," Zevran replied smiling.

"It is?" Leliana asked before she could stop herself. If that was the truth then she'd really been a terrible guard. She'd lost hours somewhere and it was pure luck that no one had attacked the camp.

"It is, my lovely bard," Zevran said and bowed, "Go sleep in your tent and dream of our gorgeous leader," He suggested then. She tried to find something witty to say, but nothing appropriate came in mind so she just muttered something ineligible and left. She could hear Zevran's quiet laughter behind her.

When Leliana got into her tent and started to remove her armor, she knew that one thing was certain now. She had to find out if there was anything between her and Lenya. She just didn't know how to do that.

As she curled in her bedroll her mind wandered to Lenya and when she finally fell asleep there was a smile on her lips.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And here we are at the end of the chapter.**

**I don't know how the Templar skills actually function and in game you just pick them up, but I'm pretty sure you need to practice them. Making Lenya use Smite and getting hurt in the process seemed nice way to address some of that need for training and also make Lenya not automatically good in something. Making her bit more mortal. It also serves purpose of making Alistair a bit more confident. Although that will require more chapters than one, I think. :)**

**Glow Lenya has in her eyes when the Darkspawn are near and in some other times as well, I took from all the trailers of DAO. I liked the idea of Warden's eyes having that blue glow and mystical blue mist rising from the eyes as they kill darkspawn. I left the mist out though. I was so disappointed that the eyes didn't do that in the game. :)**

**I have no idea if Zevran had actually fought against darkspawns before, so made it so that this was his first encounter with them.**

**Dalish elves follow _Vir Tanadahl_ - Way of the three trees. For Lenya I made up the Way of the Blade - _Vir Mi_, because of her fascination of swords. She does still follow the _Vir Tanadahl_ as well like all Dalish do. She just has one extra Way to follow. :)**

**I think I'm done with traveling chapters for a bit now. Next stop Orzammar and dwarven politics. I'm sure I will miss the traveling chapters very soon. :)**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews are always welcome. Good or bad.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: And we arrive to Chapter 16 and finally in Orzammar.**

**I wish to thank everyone who's read so far. Special thank to those who fave/alerted and very special thanks to those who reviewed. My eternal gratitude goes for Faelan for her support on writing this story.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belong to Bioware. Everything you don't recognize belong to me and Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, January 2014: Fixed grammatical and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>At the gates of Orzammar<strong>

When they finally arrived at the gates of Orzammar, it was getting late and Lenya decided that they would camp now instead of continuing straight to the gates.

"We could just go there right now and get inside from this blasted cold," Leliana heard Alistair suggest.

"I want to know what kind of situation there is before I march to the gates and I'd prefer not going there at this late like some kind of beggar," Lenya replied to him, "No one likes people who come to knock at their door in the middle of the night."

"Even if the doors are huge?" Alistair asked.

"Even then," Lenya smiled, "We set the camp here and we go to the gates at midday tomorrow."

"As you wish," Alistair nodded and left to make sure the camp was set. After Lenya's use of Smite and her injury from that, Alistair had been more confident in giving orders to the rest of the group. He even took part in the decision making. Giving his opinion instead of just waiting Lenya to decide what to do. Lenya still made the decisions though.

Lenya hadn't moved. She kept staring at the gates, her expression unreadable.

"What is it?" Leliana asked.

"I sense them," Lenya replied. She didn't have to say who 'them' were, "It's faint, but it will get worse when we go inside. Deep Roads starts from there you see," She added and Leliana nodded, of course she knew about the Deep Roads, "Not a place where I would have thought I'll end up," Lenya sighed.

"You don't know that we need to go there," Leliana pointed out.

"With how our luck goes?" Lenya asked and laughed a little, "I'll make you a deal, Leliana, If we don't have to go to the Deep Roads, while we are here, I'll clean your weapons and armor for two weeks."

"And if we go to the Deep Roads?" Leliana asked lifting her brow curiously.

"You'll clean my armor and weapons for two weeks," Lenya said.

"That's hardly fair. Your armor has a lot more to clean," Leliana said smiling. Lenya turned to look at her and the setting sun made her armor glimmer and her hair shine. She was simply breathtaking, "I... have I ever told you that I really like the way you wear your hair?" She heard herself asking.

There was a surprised look on Lenya's face and she lifted her hand to touch her hair, "My hair?" She asked and then she smiled, "Thank you."

"It's very nice and it suits you. Simple, not like the elaborate hairstyles we wore in Orlais. They involved flowers, ribbons, jewels..." Leliana knew she was babbling, but couldn't stop herself, "One year, feathers were all the rage, and Lady Elise decided she needed to outdo everyone else, and actually wore live songbirds in her voluminous hair," She continued. Look on Lenya's face was mix of amusement, disbelief and... something else entirely. That something in them made Leliana continue her babbling. Part of her was horrified of what she was actually doing. She was supposed to be a bard and not some babbling young girl, "The chirping was quite charming for a while, but you must realize, that terrified little birdies often have loose bowels," She didn't just say that did she? - Leliana was pretty much hoping that the earth would swallow her now, before she would say anything else.

"Poor birds," Lenya says and she studied her curiously. Like waiting what she'd say next. That something was still visible on Lenya's eyes and it made Leliana incapable of stopping.

"Yes, I don't envy them. She never washed her hair," Now there was horrified look on Lenya's face. As one who valued her hair a lot she probably thought that it was blasphemy or something like that for not to take care of your hair.

"But I was trying to say something nice to you, wasn't I?" Leliana asked and Lenya's expression was almost comical as she didn't quite know what to say or think. So... she just shrugged, "Oh, forgive me. My mind wanders so," By the Maker how true that was – Leliana thought, "It's just that I... I feel so comfortable talking to you. Like I could say anything and you wouldn't judge me," She stumbled over her words.

Smile touched Lenya's lips and her eyes sparkled, "And I actually do like the way you babble," Lenya said. She did? - Leliana thought - Well of course she did. She had to. No one who didn't would listen so intently of her babbling.

"See this is what I mean. You're such a pleasure to talk to," Leliana said and there was that look of disbelief on Lenya's face again. Which of course was understandable since no one was quite at ease when talking to Lenya, "I haven't felt this close to anyone in a long time. I really enjoy your company," What in the name of the Maker she was doing? - Leliana asked from herself, but was unable to stop herself.

Lenya studied her a long while and she held her breath. She'd planned on how to speak with Lenya about this and in any of her plans it had not gone like this, "And do you often enjoy the company of other women?" Lenya asked finally.

"And what would you do if I said I do?" She asked, but continued before Lenya had time to answer, "Very much so, in fact?"

"I think I might giggle, maybe look coy?" Lenya said finally and now her eyes shined. There was no mistaking on what Leliana saw in her eyes now. Interest. Caution as well, but Lenya was definitely interested in her.

"Ha! You must do that then, perhaps later when I'm not prepared for it? Surprise me?" Leliana suggested at her and gave her a brilliant smile, "Come then, let us get going. If I recall correctly, you have some important earth-shattering business to attend to?" She said and turned to leave.

"Yes sure," Lenya said, "Except we are getting ready to camp for the night so if you don't mind I'll go to my earth-shattering business right after breakfast tomorrow. You can compliment my hair again though if you want," She said with a serious tone.

Leliana burst out laughing and was still giggling when she got to the camp fire. She got a few strange looks from the others.

* * *

><p>"That one there looks like the sort of shifty bastard who might enjoy scavenging stuff from the battlefields," Lenya said and pointed at the shem in plain clothes and who looked... well shifty. "Let me talk to him. You just look scary," She then said to Sten.<p>

"Between two of them, they are going to scare the poor man to death," Lenya heard Alistair say to someone.

"You there," Lenya said to the shem, "Are you Faryn?"

"Yes, that's me," The man said and looked like he was ready to wet himself.

"Where's my sword?" Sten asked. Well, there went the part where she would talk to the man.

"Sword? I don't know anything about a sword," Faryn said and he seemed to shrink under Sten's gaze.

"Now, Faryn," Lenya said, "If I were you and believe me, I'm really happy that I'm not, I'd think really hard about what happen to the sword you scavenged from the battlefield near the Lake Calenhad," She continued, "Because if you do not, either give us the sword or tell us where it is, this huge friend of mine is going to rip your hands off," She added in a cheerful tone.

"She really needs to work on that diplomacy thing," Lenya heard Alistair say again.

"I agree," Leliana said, "She does get results though."

"Yes and leaves half of the Ferelden in a state of dread," Alistair pointed out.

Lenya blocked their discussion out and focused on Faryn. Who was in a state of dread, panic and just about to pass out, "So, tell us what we need to know or give us the sword. Or learn to eat with your feet."

"I... I... I don't... have the sword anymore," Faryn said and he was now visibly trembling.

"Oh and why's that?" Lenya asked, lifting her brow.

"I... I sold it on my way here," Faryn replied, stumbling over his words, "To a dwarf from Redcliffe. Dwyn."

"What do you think, Sten?" Lenya asked from the qunari, "Do we believe him?"

"Maker have mercy, don't kill me!" Faryn begged.

"Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask mercy from me?" Lenya asked curiously and turned to look at the man, "I admit that I don't know much about this Maker of yours, but he's been quite inactive for a long while now, so asking him to help is rather stupid don't you think?"

"I think he tells the truth," Sten said, "But in the off chance he's not..."

"I know just the thing," Lenya said and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the feel of the taint beneath her feet. In the Deep Roads. She could feel the taint within her answer and then she opened her eyes. She now saw Faryn through a faint blue light, "I now know you, Faryn. I can track you anywhere so if you've told us false things..."

"It's the truth, I swear," Faryn said and stepped back from her, "What are you?" He then asked in terrified voice.

"I am Lenya," Lenya replied cheerfully, "Now go and I do recommend taking a bath and changing your pants," She added and turned away from the man. Soon she heard the padding of feet as the man ran away.

"You really are scary. You know that don't you?" Alistair said to her.

"I know," Lenya grinned at him.

"Should we go to the gate now then?" Alistair asked.

"Maybe in a few moments," Lenya said and turned to look at Sten, "Something wrong?"

"We need to go to Redcliffe, now," Sten said.

"Yes, we will go there next," Lenya nodded, "But if you seriously think that we turn around from here without getting the dwarves aid, you are delusional," She could see the struggle that was raging inside Sten, "You swore to follow me until the Blight is ended. If you want to break that oath and go after your sword. You can do so, because I don't have any use for people who can't keep their word."

Sten was quiet for a sometime, but then he nodded, "I will follow you, Warden. For now," He said.

"And I will promise you that after we've secured the aid of the dwarves, we go to the Redcliffe," Lenya said, "Now, lets go see if we can get inside that blasted mountain."

* * *

><p>When they approached the gates they heard from a quite far how some man, who claimed to be King Loghain's emissary, demanded to get inside.<p>

Alistair shook his head in disbelief. Loghain must have gone crazy if he thought he was a King now.

"He's really gone crazy, has he?" Lenya asked from him, "I mean he was a bit out there in Ostagar when he left us to die there, but this claiming to be King... Crazy," She continued, "I don't pretend to know how you shems choose your kings, but I doubt he could just say that he is now a King and that's it, now could he?"

"I guess he could do that and some might even think him that, but you are correct that, that is not the way kings are chosen in Ferelden," Alistair replied, "It wouldn't be legitimate in the Landsmeet and Banns wouldn't just accept it."

"I thought so," Lenya said, "To us it's pretty much the same who sits on your thrones. Attitude towards us is always the same regardless," Someday he should ask Lenya about her people. When she spoke of them they sounded wonderful people and he would like to know more about their way of life and even how humans were treating them.

As they approached the gate and the noisy human, the gate guard was now speaking, "Veata! This land is held in trust for the sovereign dwarven kings. I cannot allow entry at this time," The guard said and took a one look at them. More specifically on Lenya. If there was one place in Ferelden where Grey Warden symbol was recognized it was at Orzammar and Lenya's armor pretty much hit everyone in the head with the fact that she was one. The guard didn't say anything though, mainly because the emissary started to foam about how King Loghain demanded things. For an emissary he was even worse at diplomacy than Lenya was.

"I don't care if you're king's wiper," That made Lenya chuckle. Not even very subtly, "Orzammar will have none but its own until the throne is settled," Alistair sighed on that. Lenya had been right. As it had been with the Circle, it wasn't just _'go in and show the treaties and get help'_.

Lenya looked thoughtful, "I have urgent need to talk to your king, master dwarf," She said politely. That almost made Alistair swallow his tongue. Lenya was polite?

"Who doesn't? If I don't get in, no one should," Loghain's emissary said. Lenya didn't pay any attention to him.

"Orzammar has no king. Endrin Aeducan returned to the stone not three weeks ago, sick over loss of his sons," The guard said, "The assembly has gone through dozen votes without agreeing on a successor, if it is not settled soon, we risk a civil war."

"How nice. Everyone has decided to take this time to fight amongst themselves," Alistair heard Morrigan say and to his horror he found that he agreed with her.

Lenya took the treaties from her pack and handed them to the guard, "I am a Grey Warden, master dwarf. This treaty obliges Orzammar to aid me," She said and she was still unnaturally polite. It was like she was a different person. Alistair wanted to ask Lenya if she was feeling alright, but that might ruin things.

"The Grey Wardens killed King Cailan and nearly doomed Ferelden! They're sworn enemies of King Loghain!" Loghain's emissary said angrily and stared Lenya very unkidndly.

"Alistair?" Lenya said without even acknowledging the emissary, "Is the King of Ferelden an archdemon?" She asked.

"Not that I know of, but then again Ferelden doesn't have a king at the moment," Alistair replied, not quite sure what Lenya was doing, but he decided to play along.

"Ah, my mistake then. I thought he might be one because that idiot there says we are sworn enemies of the coward he serves," Lenya said and then turned to the emissary, "You're mistaken my dear idiot. We are not sworn enemies of the idiot you serve. Well, unless he is a darkspawn that is. Ugly thing, growls a lot, has black blood... No?" Alistair had a hard time to keep his face straight. He heard that Zevran didn't even try since he was laughing. He also saw the lips of the guard twitch as he was reading the treaties.

"Well, that is the royal seal," The guard said before the emissary had time to say anything for Lenya's insults, "That means only the assembly is authorized to address it. Grey Warden, you may pass," He said to Lenya.

The emissary seemed to choke and Alistair could have sworn that his mouth was foaming, "You're letting inside a traitor? And a foreigner?" The emissary yelled, "In the name of King Loghain I demand that you execute this... stain on the honor of Ferelden."

"I apologize, master dwarf, but things might get ugly now," Lenya said to the guard.

"Just take the fight off my doorstep," The guard said and Lenya nodded. She moved down the steps backwards, never taking her eyes off from the emissary and his party.

"Now, my dear emissary of King Loghain," Lenya says, "First, I am not a subject of any human king, so it's damn hard for me to be a stain on honor of Ferelden. Secondly, even if I were, I wouldn't take orders from anyone, who work for that damn coward, who let his own King to die in the hands of darkspawn. Thirdly... well there isn't actually third point so lets just skip to the point where I will kill you," She said and unsheathed her swords. Alistair had seen her do that countless of times now, but it was still damn impressive. The emissary's eyes widen in shock, "Alistair, would you be so kind and smite the mage," Lenya then said.

"With pleasure," Alistair said and readied the energies needed for that. Then the emissary attacked and by a single move Lenya parried his attack and did a graceful whirl around her center of balance. When her momentum stopped the emissary was without his head. Lenya held her swords straight at her sides pointing at the ground. Blood dripped down from the one that she'd used to cut the head from the emissary. He didn't see her face but he could imagine it. Bright blue eyes looking under her brows, challenging you to attack her.

Alistair almost missed his mark to smite the mage when she watched Lenya and only nearly managed to do that in time. After that the fight didn't last long. Sten took the qunari they had with them. Muttering something about Tal-Vasoth, what ever that was. Alistair and Zevran handled the guards that were not engaged attacking Lenya.

"You really are something in the battlefield," Alistair said to Lenya when the fight was over.

"Thank you," She smiled and swiped the blood off from her swords before she sheathed them, "It seems that Loghain is trying to get the aid from the same groups we are."

"It looks like that," Alistair nodded, "He doesn't seem to have much luck though. Mage he contacted went nuts and became an abomination and I don't even want to know what the hell was he thinking when he sent that idiot here."

"I doubt he is doing much thinking at all if even half of the rumors we've heard are true," Lenya said, "He is trying to force this country into following him and it's not working, so he's trying to push even harder," She turned the body of emissary over and searches him, "Odd.. he has no papers at all. Shouldn't he at least have letter of introduction or something to prove he's Loghain's emissary?"

"Loghain must fear that, if his emissaries have written documents, they could be stolen," Leliana said.

"I guess that makes sense," Lenya shrugged and got up, "Let's go see what the durgen'len city looks like."

"Should we do something with the bodies?" Alistair asked.

"Like what? Bury them?" Lenya asked and he shrugged, not quite sure what they should do, "I don't think we need to bother. There is enough poor people outside here so they will be picked clean pretty soon and then the bodies are problem for someone else," Lenya decided then.

Alistair couldn't argue with her on that, they had seen many poor dwarves and even humans, when they had been walking through the area outside the gates, "Alright then," He sad and they headed back to the gates.

"You've done me a great service, Warden. That fool Imrek was barking for a week. Are all humans so touched?" The guard said when they approach him again.

"Removing that fool was an honor, master dwarf," Lenya said, "As for humans being like that, well excluding few exceptions, they really are like that. They seem to have unhealthy love for their own importance," Alistair wondered about who were those exceptions Lenya mentioned.

"It did seem so, Warden," The guard agreed.

"Can we enter the city now?" Lenya asked. He really had to ask her about the politeness thing. It was rather unnerving when Lenya didn't threaten people.

"You are free to enter Orzammar, Grey Warden," The guard said, "Though I don't know what help you will find."

"We'll just have see," Lenya said, "I thank you master dwarf," She bowed her head slightly.

The guard gave a signal and with great clanking the huge doors started to open.

Lenya turned to watch the sky one more time before she went inside. Most followed her example.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar<strong>

Their welcome to the city had not been promising. It seemed that there was two dwarves who competed for the throne and they didn't just leave it to the debates. There was almost all out war going between the supporters of each men.

The visit to the Assembly had been a waste of time. It seemed that without the king the treaties didn't really bind anyone in this cave.

Unfortunately all that meant, that they would have to gain the trust from one of the dwarves running for the throne. At the moment Lenya didn't really care from whom. She would have loved to get out of this damn cave and into the outdoors. As big as the cave was, she still felt like she was trapped inside a tomb.

"What are we going to do?" Alistair asked as they neared the tavern called Tapsters.

"We are going into the tavern and we are going to order something to drink," Lenya said, "Then we are trying to find a place to stay."

"And then?" Alistair asked.

"Then we try to find out something about the two man who want to be kings," Lenya said, "I will not give support to them without knowing at least something about them."

"How are you going to find things out?" Leliana asked, "I mean no disrespect, but you are not very well suited to the task."

"You mean that they don't tell me things if I threaten them with a sword, don't you?" Lenya asked smiling a little.

"Uhm... yes," Leliana said, looking apologetic.

"It usually does work well, but I guess you are right," Lenya nodded, "I want you and Zevran find out what you can," She decided then.

"As you wish, dearest Lenya," Zevran said and Leliana nodded.

"Oh and Zevran," Lenya said making the assassin turn to look at her, "I don't want an angry mob of fathers, mothers, husbands or wives running after us, so try not to have sex with everything that moves."

"You can find out remarkable things after sex, my dear," Zevran grinned at her.

"Yes, I'm sure, but at least try not to anger half the Orzammar while you're doing it," Lenya shook her head in defeat. No matter what she'd say, Zevran would find someone to bed with and it would most likely be someone he shouldn't have.

"One quarter of Orzammar is alright then?" Zevran asked still grinning. Lenya had to chuckle at that.

"Just find out something I can use to decide," Lenya smiled and then stopped to stare at the dwarf in a chantry robe, "I didn't think dwarves believed in the Maker."

"They don't," Alistair replied, looking puzzled, "They revere their ancestors or something like that."

"Maker's blessing on you, sister," The dwarf said when Lenya got closer.

"I thought dwarves didn't believe in the Maker," Lenya said to the man.

"I'm brother Burkel, of the Redcliffe Chantry, returned to my ancestors' lands to spread the chant of light," The dwarf introduced himself, "I am petitioning to open a chantry in Orzammar."

"Don't dwarves worship their ancestors or something?" Lenya asked, lifting her brow.

"There is... resistance," Burkel said and Lenya was sure there was. People usually didn't like it when someone came to tell them that their beliefs were wrong, "It's obvious that the world was not created by the mortal souls who dwelt within it," He said and did Lenya agree on that, but who was she to judge what others believed, "Yet the dwarves of Orzammar persist in worshiping their forefathers."

"That's their religion. You shouldn't interfere," Lenya said.

"You speak as if these people have deliberately chosen to reject the Maker, but most of them haven't even heard His name," Burkel said and he sounded a bit irritated, "How can they choose the Path of enlightenment if they never learn that the Path exists?" He asked then and that made Lenya see red. That little man embodied pretty much everything that she hated in the Chantry. Our way is the only damn way and if you don't like it we kill you.

"You think you can show everyone the Way?" Lenya asked, her voice almost a growl. She felt Alistair and someone else putting their hands on her shoulders, "You presumptuous fool!" She snarled at Burkel.

"Andraste revealed the truth! The Maker took her up to live at His right hand-" Burkel started and then shook his head, "No, never mind. It's clear you've strayed too far to be brought back with a single conversation."

"By the Creators! I will show you straying, you presumptuous little fo-" A hand covered Lenya's mouth, cutting her words short.

"Sorry about that, Burkel," Alistair said and pulled Lenya away, "My companion is a Dalish and she has issues with the Chantry."

"A Dalish? Ah, that explains things. It is sad that they have chosen to reject the Maker and continue worshipping their false gods," Burkel said. Lenya only saw him through a red haze now. As soon as she was free she would sever the bloody fools head. She tested the hold Alistair had on her. It didn't budge.

"Maker! Do you have a death wish you idiot?" Alistair asked and tightened his hold on Lenya, "You better leave now. Preferably from the city as well or she will kill you next time she sees you."

"My faith in the Maker protects me," Burkel said stubbornly.

"I seriously doubt that my friend," Lenya heard Zevran say, though the voices of her companions seemed distant, "You better go now and stay away from our lovely leaders sight or she will do something horrible to you. Perhaps cuts your head off. She's very good at doing that. Just one swift move and you don't need to worry about anything and you can see for yourself if the Maker is really real."

"Zevran!" Lenya heard Leliana say somewhere near her ear. She must be the other one who was holding her still, "Help us to take her away from here," She felt how they were dragging her away.

When the idiot brother disappeared from Lenya's sight she started to cool down. Alistair and Leliana didn't trust her enough to let go of their hold on her though. Which was a good thing. At the moment she would probably head off and try to find the damn dwarf.

"That was one suicidal dwarf," Lenya heard Zevran say, "He's kind of missed the point that if you want to convert dangerous people you need an army for that."

"Let's hope he stays away from Lenya's sights from now on," Alistair said, "She will kill him if she sees him again," He got that right – Lenya thought.

"Damn straight!" Lenya wanted to say, but only thing that came out was 'Dmmph Smmpph!' since Alistair's hand still covered her mouth. He removed his hand quickly, but he didn't release his hold of her.

"Feeling better?" Leliana asked.

"I haven't even felt bad so no, I don't feel better," Lenya replied.

"Feeling less murderous then?" Leliana smiled.

"A bit," Lenya nodded, "I will kill the bastard if I see him again anytime soon," She promises.

"I thought you might," Alistair said, "Hopefully the fool leaves Orzammar or that he stays indoors until we are gone."

Lenya nodded and then looked around, "Where are we?" Buildings around them were in disrepair or poorly built. Streets were covered in dirt and only dwarves they saw were dressed in rags.

"It looks like a completely different city," Alistair said, "It reminds me of the poorer parts of the Denerim."

"Let go off me," Lenya said, "I'll go talk to that woman there," She nodded towards a dwarf woman who was lying on the ground. Bit reluctantly Alistair let her go.

* * *

><p>Leliana watched as Lenya went to talk to the dwarf. Saw how her expression changed to pity and then to anger. She saw how she gave the woman coins and then returned back to them. "You were wrong Alistair. This is not where to poor live. This is where the castles live."<p>

"What are castles?" Leliana asked.

"As far as I understood they don't exist. You can kill them, beat them, rape them and no guard will do anything. There is no way they can escape being castles. It's determined in birth somehow," Lenya replied.

"That's horrible," Leliana said.

"Pretty much," Lenya nodded,"That woman there had heard a rumor that one of the king candidates has taken a castles as his wife and is planning on changing the status of the castles somehow, but she was sure it is just a rumor."

"You want us to find out if there is anything on that rumor and which one of the candidates is in question?" Zevran asked.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "I may not care much of who leads the dwarves, but anyone who even plans on helping people like her can't be completely bad."

"Hmm... Lenya," Morrigan said and Lenya turned to look at her, "I think some of those helpless are about to attack us," Morrigan pointed the group with poorly matching armor parts and poorly made weapons advancing on them.

"You think speaking would help?" Lenya asked.

"I doubt it," Morrigan shook her head, "Your armor alone is attracting them too much and is overriding their survival instinct."

Fight didn't last long. The ragtag group of dwarves that attacked them was no match for them, but that didn't stop them for fighting to the end.

After the last on of them died, Lenya went through the bodies. Unlike normally, when they got attacked by bandits or the like, Lenya did not take anything from these dwarves. She closed their eyes almost gently.

"Are you alright?" Alistair asked and put his hand on Lenya's shoulder.

"No one should be in so desperate position that they would attack heavily armed group of warriors," Leliana heard Lenya say.

"You said the same thing in Lothering when those peasants tried to kill us because of the bounty," Alistair said.

"Yes," Lenya said, "Seems that shems and durgen'len has something in common," She got up and sighed, "Let's go and find a place to stay and maybe even bath."

"A bath would be nice," Leliana said smiling.

"You are going to make me bathe as well, aren't you?" Alistair asked.

"Absolutely," Leliana, Lenya and Wynne said in unison.

"You are all cruel women," Alistair muttered as they headed back towards the area called the Commons.

* * *

><p>Later, after they'd found a place to stay and after she'd taken a bath, Lenya was standing on the balcony of the inn and stared at the huge cavern where the city was housed. Being underground still made her uneasy, but if she didn't look at the ceiling, she could almost make herself believe that they were not underground. Almost.<p>

Faint and familiar flowery scent drifted in her nose so she knew Leliana was behind her even before she spoke. She did wonder how and why she was feeling so close to Leliana. It all seemed to happen so fast. _'I might giggle, maybe look coy.'_ that's what she'd said to her and she'd meant it. She was feeling a pull towards Leliana. She'd caught herself of thinking about her few times now.

"I have heard much about the halls of the dwarven kings, but the stories do it no justice," Leliana said and came to stand beside her, "It is so strange- harsh, yet beautiful," She continued and excitement was making her eyes twinkle.

Lenya had to shake her head to clear it or she might say something about beauty and she would not be talking about the cave they were in, "I don't really like being in caves. It's unsafe," She said. That was pretty much all she could manage at the moment.

"The dwarves have lived here for thousands of years. I'm sure it's perfectly safe," Leliana smiled at her reassuringly. Then her eyes lit up again with excitement, "And have you seen those tiny pig-like burrowing animals?" She asked, but continued excitedly before Lenya could answer, "They are adorable. I wish I could have one as a pet," There was dreamy look on her face now and then she shook her head, "But they must be hard to catch and... oh, just ignore me. I'm so silly sometimes," She added and before Lenya had time to say anything she returned inside the inn.

"Adorable..." Lenya said to herself and she didn't mean the pig-like animals. It also made her shake her head. How could she be attracted to a woman, and a shem woman at that, who believed pretty much everything she did not. It was infuriating, but she could not deny that the attraction was there.

She also felt guilty because of what she felt. Guilty because of Merrill and how she was seemingly moving on. Even though that had been the reason why she'd done the burial. It had worked on every one except on Merrill. Not completely anyway because she was feeling guilty, but it had worked because she was now beginning to feel attracted to a another woman.

"Who would have guessed that I would ever find a shem attractive," Lenya said shaking her head in disbelieve and then she sighed, "So much what I held true is changing," She gave one final look at the cavern and then returned back in.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's end of the Chapter 16. It's also a start for the Orzammar story line which is rather long.**

**Ah, Imrek, most incompetent emissary I've seen in DAO. When he demands things in the name of Loghain from other kingdom... facepalm! Always wanted to say something snarky to him, but was restricted with "No, Loghain did it not us!" choice. I finally got my wish granted thanks to Lenya.**

**It always annoys me to no end that you can't really find any information about what Bhelen and Harrowmont really stand for. In the city where everyone seem to want to backstab everyone who's not part of their house and in some cases even members of their own house, there is bound to be rumors of what they are planning if they are chosen as kings.**

**I am a bit amazed that I've managed to keep up the once a week updates. I am hoping that I can keep that up, but can't promise it. Mass Effect 3 comes out soon and well... I'm expecting it will take a considerable chunk of my free time. :)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are always welcome.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Chapter 17 and we have Orzammar politics.**

**Thank you all who have read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted and extra special thanks to those who reviewed. And my eternal gratitude to Faelan, your support is invaluable my dear friend.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Everything you don't is mine. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, January 2014: Grammar and other errors fixed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, Diamond Quarters<strong>

If there was someone Lenya really didn't like it was Bhelen's right hand man Vartag. She'd disliked him as soon as she'd seen him. Unfortunately he was the one to talk to if you wanted to get to meet Bhelen.

"You want to kill him don't you," Alistair asked when they walked away from the man.

"Don't you?" Lenya asked and looked at her fellow Warden.

"A bit," Alistair admitted.

"That's a start," Lenya smiled at him, "Do you have a feeling that you just want to leave the dwarves to their own damn mess?" She asked then.

"After I talked with that guy... Yes, pretty much," Alistair nodded, "Are you sure you want to support Bhelen?" He asked then.

"You heard what Leliana and Zevran said," Lenya said, "Bhelen really is speaking about changing this damned caste system of theirs and maybe give a chance to those casteless in the Dust town," She really didn't want to know how Zevran had come by that information, "This Harrowmont on the other hand doesn't even think those people down there are there or that they are people. He might be the 'nicer' of the two candidates, but I'll be damned if I support a man like that. I'll take a backstabbing brother murderer over narrow minded fool any day."

"I start to understand why Wardens prefer to stay neutral," Alistair said, "Politics can drive anyone crazy. At least with darkspawn you know where you stand."

"Yes, straight forward violence is always nicer than talking to people," Lenya nodded.

"Problem in that is that it doesn't leave us live allies," Alistair said.

"There is that," Lenya agreed, "Let's go see if we can find this Lady Dace and then go see if others have found out anything new and see if we can find the other noble we need to lie to."

"You think that the information that weasel Vartag gave us isn't true?" Alistair asked.

"Yes I do. He wouldn't need us to give these to them if they were totally legitimate. He could do it himself," Lenya replied, "It might be true that the Harrowmont is trying to do what these say though. I just don't believe this..." She waved the note, "... is real."

"I know what you mean. Who would be stupid enough to record something like that in these memories of theirs," Alistair said, "Did you tell the others to meet us at the inn?"

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "Hopefully no one has tried to tell Shale that they wanted to buy it. I'd hate to explain the innkeeper why there is a room painted with blood in his inn," Shale had stayed behind at the inn to guard their belongings. Shale didn't like it when all the dwarves were staring at it and pointing at it and because Lenya had told it that squishing them would not be a good idea.

"If it has done that, I will not clean the room," Alistair said.

"You're no fun at all," Lenya smiled at him, "Lets go."

* * *

><p>"It seems that I will be getting a cleaner for my armor and weapons," Lenya said when they were speaking with the Lady Dace and she'd just informed them that his father was needed to change the vote and he was somewhere in the Deep Roads.<p>

"Does that mean you'll go?" Lady Dace asked.

"Yes, I'll leave as soon as I have talked with my companions," Lenya said.

"So Bhelen's victory means enough for you to risk your life. Interesting..." Lady Dace said and Alistair could almost see how her mind calculated how she could benefit from this.

"Wrong," Lenya said and shook her head, "Only thing I care about is that I get the troops I need in order to defeat the Blight. If it would be possible for me to raise a rock as your king and get my troops that way, I'd do it and leave you in a heartbeat, but since I'm forced to play your idiotic politics instead, I'll do it and make damn sure you all owe me for it."

"Lenya..." Alistair said and put his hand on Lenya's shoulder, "Diplomacy."

"Oh, right," Lenya shook her head again, "Sorry about that Lady Dace. I hate politics."

"I see..." Lady Dace said and gave Lenya a curious look, "Here's the seal that lets you past the guards and here's the map you need to find the Aeducan Thaig."

"Thank you," Lenya just said and then she just turned around and left the Lady Dace standing there.

"What did you mean with the part where you said that you will be getting a cleaner for your armor?" Alistair asked when they were walking through the commons to the inn.

"Just a little bet between Leliana and me," Lenya replied, "I said that with our luck we will end up in the Deep Roads while we are here and she said that maybe we don't. So I proposed a bet. She cleans my armor and weapons for two weeks if we have to go there and if not, then I'd do the same."

"You didn't accept to go there just to win the bet I hope," Alistair said.

"Of course not, you idiot," Lenya said indignantly. Great – Alistair thought - he'd managed to insult her again, "I don't enjoy being underground and going even deeper there really isn't what I'd call fun," Lenya continued.

"I'm sorry," Alistair said, "I didn't think before speaking... again."

Lenya snorted, "At least you can speak to me now. Without fearing that you might be wetting yourself."

"Hey! I let you know that I never were close of wetting myself..." Alistair said trying to look hurt, but smile ruined the effort as he added, "...much."

Lenya just answered his smile with her own. Their relationship was really odd. They were now almost comfortable with each other. Lenya seemed to have changed or maybe he just got used to her. At times, Lenya did still show the angry Dalish woman, Alistair had met at Ostagar. It was now quite often aimed at Wynne who for some reason had got in her head that she had to teach Lenya somehow.

Somehow Wynne was even worse at choosing her words than he or Leliana were. Her words were made even more worse, because Wynne seemed to be certain she was right all the time.

Memory of their Lenya's and Wynne's last discussion came into his mind without asking.

"_So tell me how did you become a Grey Warden?" Wynne asked from Lenya._

"_I was tainted and only the Joining could save me," Lenya answered and shrugged._

"_Then you became a Grey Warden out of necessity. But Duncan must have seen something special in you. The order does not take in recruits just to save their lives," Wynne continued and she was right. Both on Duncan seeing something special on Lenya and that order did not just recruit people to save their life. Alistair had been following Lenya enough now, to see what Duncan had seen in her. She was a leader and the best fighter he'd ever seen, "You must be proud to be able to represent your tribe and the Dalish as a Grey Warden," Wynne continued._

_Lenya snorted, "The keeper forced me to go. I would rather have died," She replied. It always made Alistair shudder when he heard Lenya speak like that. She had come terms with her becoming a Warden instead of dying, but the fact was that at the beginning she'd rather died than leave her clan and join the Wardens._

"_Sometimes it gives me comfort to think that everything will end up the way it's supposed to, that it will be all right," Wynne said then and Lenya tensed. When she turned to look at the mage, Wynne continued, "You were chosen: You survived the Joining when others did not. Perhaps it was meant to be."_

"_You think this is somehow all right?" Lenya asked only barely containing her anger. Anger he could feel resonating in the taint within her, "I was violated in the way you can't even understand, torn from my family, brought in the midst of the damn Shems who think I'm a damn servant, cured, only to find out it's not actually a cure, but an reprieve of the inevitable death all Wardens share," Lenya was shaking and her eyes were glowing now, "No, Wynne, it's not all right. It will never be all right. I know you cling to that hope because it makes it a little bit better to be in the Circle, but it doesn't make it anymore all right than my situation is alright," After that Lenya turned around and left the camp, muttering in her own language. Abelas followed her._

"Warden Lenya to Warden Alistair!" Alistiar heard Lenya's voice and he returned back to the present, "What have I told you about thinking while you walk?" Lenya asked.

"That I shouldn't stress myself overmuch or I might walk into things," He heard himself saying and only then noticed that he'd almost walked into the merchant stall, but had been stopped by Lenya. This had never actually happen and even though Lenya had really told him not to think while walking, she had been joking then. It must be the constant feel of darkspawn that was distracting him.

"You're lucky you didn't walk into the lava pit," Lenya said and Alistair had to agree, that would have really made Wardens look bad, "What were you thinking anyway?" She asked then.

"Our relationship and that somehow lead to the discussion you had with Wynne few days ago," Alistair replied.

"Our relationship?" Lenya asked and looked curious and cautious, "I didn't know we had one."

"No, nothing like that," Alistair shook his head, "I mean this. You're friendly to me and we can talk things. I value you as a friend and a fellow Warden."

"Ah..." Lenya said, "For a moment there I was afraid you might start to woo me again."

"I'm not Zevran," Alistair smiled at her.

"Thank the Creators for that," Lenya said and then she lifted her eyes to his, "You are a friend, Alistair and I trust you," She said and to hear her say that meant more to Alistair than he thought it would. He remembered what Duncan had said, _"She is very honorable and extremely loyal to those who can win her trust."_ It was also a bit scary too. He already had witnessed how Lenya risked her own life for those she cared about.

"Even though I'm hideous shem and not too bright at times?" Alistair asked grinning. He banished the scary thoughts and concentrated on the fact that Lenya trusted him.

"Even then," Lenya smiled and then she turned curious again, "What in that made you think about my conversation with the old bat... I mean Wynne?"

"Just how different you are towards her than you are towards me and Leliana. You act towards her like you did at first with me and specially with Leliana," Alistair replied and tried not to smile on Lenya's slip about the old bat.

"If you haven't noticed, Leliana doesn't bring out Maker and the Chantry up with me often anymore and when she does she is very careful with her words. Wynne on the other hand thinks that only she knows how things should be and she tries to teach me what she thinks is right," Lenya said, "If she were not so good healer I'd left her somewhere along the road or I might have ended up killing her."

"Are you serious?" Alistair asked and an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach.

Lenya lowered her eyes and sighed, "I was tempted to kill her last time. By the Creators, I was tempted. To hear her telling me that all that had happen to me is all right. Yes, things might happen for a reason, but it doesn't automatically make them all right. Stupid..." Her voice disappeared into a muttering.

"Is that why you've avoided her?" Alistair asked.

"What do you think?" Lenya asked and sighed, "I don't want to kill her, but she is really testing my patience. So I stay away from her."

Alistair didn't know what else to say so they walked to the inn in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, The Warden's rest Inn<strong>

Everyone, but Lenya and Alistair had returned to the inn and were now waiting for the Wardens to arrive.

Leliana had not found anything that would help with the king business, but she'd found little jobs they might do to gain more money. With Lenya and Alistair eating for three or more people each, they would need more food, so the money would come in handy.

"You must know that murder is wrong, I assume," Leliana heard Wynne say and she turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry... are you speaking to me?" Zevran asked looking curious.

"That is why you wish to leave your Crows. A crisis of conscience," Wynne continued and Leliana had to roll her eyes on that. For an old and maybe even a wise mage, she had some serious blind spots. With Lenya and now it seems with Zevran.

"Yes, that is exactly it," Zevran said, sounding enthusiastic.

"Joke if you wish, but I have the feeling that deep down you regret the life you have lived," Wynne continued.

"It's true. I regret it all," Zevran said.

"Must you be such a child?" Wynne asked and now she sounded annoyed, "Are you incapable of a single, serious conversation?"

"I know. I am terrible and it makes me sad," Zevran said with mock sadness, "May I rest my head in your bosom? I wish to cry," Zevran said and sniffed loudly.

"You can cry well away from my bosom, I'm certain," Wynne said sternly. She was obviously regretting that she'd even said anything to Zevran.

"Did I tell you I was an orphan? I never knew my mother," Zevran continued.

"Egad. I give up," Wynne said and threw her arms in the air in defeat.

Leliana was about to say Wynne that she should stop trying to teach Zevran, or Lenya for that matter, if her mental health was at all important to her. Neither of the elves took Wynne's tries to teach, well. Zevran only joked and flirted with her, but Lenya, she'd seen how angry Lenya had been the last time they had talked. She wished she'd heard the conversation though. Alistair had, but he refused to tell her.

Lenya and Alistair entered the inn and prevented her from speaking to Wynne. Judging by their expression talking with Vartag had not gone well.

"What did he say?" Leliana asked when the pair approached them.

"A lot of things that made even Alistair want to kill him," Lenya said, making Alistair drop his eyes on the ground and blushing, "Main thing on all the crap he said was that we have to prove that we don't want to kill his precious Bhelen."

"It seems that even dwarves have forgot what Grey Wardens stand for," Zevran said, "It makes me sad..." He continued and looked at Wynne.

"You stay away from my bosom or by the Maker I'll turn your head backwards," Wynne warned Zevran.

"Beautiful and dangerous!" Zevran said and his eyes gleamed in delight, "Very exciting!"

"What!..." Wynne said and then buried her face in her hands, "I will stop talking to you now."

"What did we miss?" Alistair asked and looked at Wynne curiously.

"I'll tell you later," Leliana promised, "What did Vartag want you to do?"

"He wants us to let two noble houses know that Harrowmont is cheating them," Lenya replied, "Other one is probably at the Tapsters, but other one is somewhere in the Deep Roads," She continued and then grinned at her, "Seems that I will get myself an armor cleaner for a few weeks."

"Wait a minute! I never agreed at the bet," Leliana protested. Or had she? - She thought and tried to remember the conversation and failing at it. Only thing she could think was herself stumbling over her words as she'd tried to compliment Lenya's hair.

"No, we didn't actually get that far because you started to compliment my hair," Lenya said and smiled at her. Leliana felt a blush rise and she dropped her eyes on the ground. She heard Lenya chuckle when she did that.

"She... complimented your hair?" Leliana heard Alistair ask and could literally feel his eyes on her.

"Yes and it was much nicer than getting her to clean my armor," Lenya said and she had to lift her eyes to see her. No matter how flushed her face might be. There seemed to be warm and soft glow on Lenya's eyes as she looked at her. It made Leliana's heart skip a beat.

"Could we return to the task at hand before I loose my breakfast?" Morrigan asked. Breaking the moment. Leliana was glad and furious about that.

"I could eat something," Lenya said and now she looked wistful.

"Some food would be nice," Alistair agreed. It had to be a Grey Warden thing. They both had eaten huge breakfast before they left.

"The way you two eat will really make a dent to our purses," Wynne said.

"I don't understand what you're talking about," Lenya said with feigned confusion and then turned to look at Alistair, "Do you Alistair?"

"I have no clue," Alistair shook his head, "She might be insulting us. Telling us that we are slobbering pigs," Alistair suggested.

"Wasn't that what you called me?" Lenya asked smiling, "_'Well, look at that, it's good that she gets lots of exercise.'_ That's what you said to me."

"And you hit me," Alistair pointed out.

"You're lucky I only used my fist. You don't go telling woman that she might be fat and you really should not go do that to a woman who has swords and likes to chop heads off," Lenya grinned at him.

"Point taken," Alistair smiled.

"Could you two possibly stick to the matter that might get us out from underground," Morrigan said and she looked nauseous. Why was that was any ones guess.

"All right, all right. Don't get your nickers in a twist, Morrigan," Lenya said and then she went to talk to the innkeeper. She returned shortly, "I don't think we should all go to look for the Lord Dace. Who is the one in the Deep Roads. This map we got shows it's not really that far in the roads and we should be able to get there and back within a day."

"Who do you want to take with you?" Leliana asked.

"Alistair, Shale and Wynne," Lenya replied. That was a surprise. She was leaving both rogues away and also taking Wynne with her.

"What if you need rogue there?" Leliana asked.

"Leliana has a point," Alistair nodded, "None of us can open locks or find traps."

"I know, but I wanted to leave Leliana and Zevran dig around some more in here. These damn durgen'lens are secretive bunch and I really don't like how little we know about them," Lenya replied and look at her.

"You don't need both of us to do that," Leliana said.

"And if you really need lockpicking or trap disarming then you should take Leliana with you." Zevran said, "I'm good, but she's better."

"Why, thank you Zevran," Leliana said.

Lenya studied them and then looked at Alistair who shrugged. Leaving the decision to her, "All right, Leliana, you come with us and Zevran finds out what I need to know. Sten and Morrigan, keep your eyes and ears open as well," Lenya ordered them.

"As you wish, Warden," Sten said.

"Those who are coming, go get ready while me and Alistair eat," Lenya said and made a motion to the innkeeper who nodded. Soon he brought the food to their table.

* * *

><p><strong>The Deep Roads, near Orzammar<strong>

When they stepped into the Deep Roads and the gate to the Orzammar closed behind them, Lenya felt like she was about to suffocate. Feeling passed, but it was clear reminder, that she did not like to be underground.

"Lets go," She said, "Sooner we get to that thaig, sooner we can get back."

Lenya took the point with Shale and Alistair held the rear. Wynne and Leliana were between them.

They had walked about an hour when feeling of the taint got stronger. Lenya couldn't be sure if it was because there was darkspawn near or because the taint had seeped deeper in the rock around them.

"I really don't like the feeling I'm getting from around us," Alistair said and cane to stand beside her.

"Me neither," Lenya nodded and turned to look at Alistair. Her vision had a bluish glow, so she was sure that her eyes glowed. She couldn't stop it. Not when the taint was present all around them. It was resonating inside her and she knew it was doing the same to Alistair.

"Can't block it out?" Alistair asked and she nodded, "Me neither."

"Can you sense the darkspawn?" Lenya asked with a whisper. She didn't want the others to hear that they might not get warning after all if the darkspawn attacked them.

"I can sense something close by, but with all the background buzz of the taint I can't be sure until we actually see if there is anything," Alistair whispered back.

"We need reference point so we can block out the background stuff," Lenya said and Alistair nodded.

"Something wrong?" Leliana asked behind them.

She looked at Alistair questioningly and he shrugged. He left the decision to her. She considered lying to them, but decided against it. They trusted her to warn them and if she was not able to do that like she should then they would not also be able to prepare, "We can't be sure if we feel the darkspawn or just all the taint around us, until we actually meet darkspawn. Then we should be able to block out the background feel of the taint."

"We take precautions," Leliana said and took her bow in her hand. They would need to buy her a new one. That one they had bought from the templars after Uldred broke her previous one, but Leliana had told her that it was only average.

"Wynne," Lenya said to the mage.

"Yes, Lenya?" Wynne asked.

"Can you enchant our weapons like Morrigan does?" Lenya asked. She should have asked it before they came in here.

"I'm afraid I can't," Wynne said, "My talents have never been in that area."

"Too bad," Lenya said, "We need to make do without that then."

"We should get runes for the weapons," Alistair suggested, "I'm sure Sandal would be happy to add them."

"We would need much more money in order to get runes for all our weapons," Lenya pointed out, "The runes Sandal put in my armor alone cost a fortune," She added. She had only found out later how much those runes had really cost. Alistair and Leliana had kept the true price a secret until Sandal had already added them into her armor. They could afford it, but she felt guilty that only her armor was enhanced with runes.

"You deserve them," Leliana and Alistair said in unison.

"Maybe..." Lenya sighed, "Let's get going or we will be here until the end of time."

It didn't take long before they found out the reason for the feeling of the taint getting stronger. A small group of darkspawn were blocking their way forward. Now that she could see them and feel them she could block some of the background buzz out.

"There's emissary leading them," Lenya said and Alistair nodded, "I'm not going to use smite on it," She then assured him as she unsheathed her swords.

"Unless you think it's necessary," Alistair sighed while readying his weapons and she grinned at him.

The fight was over fast. Lenya distracted the darkspawn long enough that Alistair got the emissary out of the picture with smite and Leliana finished it off with an arrow.

"That felt surprisingly good," Shale said and did one last stomp on the darkspawn it had killed.

"All the staring and pointing got on your nerves?" Lenya asked.

"It has no idea," Shale sighed, "It should let me crush at least few heads."

"Until we have the forces we need I don't want you to crush any heads," Lenya shook her head.

"And after?" Shale asked sounding hopeful.

"That depends on how pissed I'm at the dwarven politics by then," Lenya smiled.

"Then I hope it is really pissed at them," Shale said making her chuckle.

"As much I hate to disappoint you Shale, I hope I'm not that pissed," Lenya said.

"It is getting soft," Shale said, "Very unfortunate."

"If you two are quite ready with your plans of squishing some heads, could we continue our journey?" Alistair asked.

"Tinman is a... what was the word it used... ah, spoilsport," Shale said.

"Sometimes, but he's right. We need to get going," Lenya grinned and motioned everyone to follow.

* * *

><p>They met few more groups of darkspawn and some ugly looking things that could only be the deep stalkers the Deep Roads guard had spoken of. Ugly things that swarmed at them in large numbers.<p>

Shale turned out to be very good at killing the critters. It only had to step on them to kill them. Lenya seemed to be inside an ever moving curtain made out of her swords. Anything that got inside that curtain got chopped to pieces. Alistair on the other hand stunned the critters with his shield and chopped them down when they were recovering from that.

Leliana and Wynne were almost useless in the fight against those things. There was no way she could use her bow effectively without hitting her companions, so she was reduced to guarding Wynne with her daggers. At least that way Wynne was free to heal the others.

Leliana found herself wishing the stalkers were darkspawn instead. Which was really stupid.

"I can't believe it, but I damned prefer darkspawn over these cursed little things," Lenya said when the last of the stalkers were dead. So, it seemed that Leliana was not the only one who didn't like them, "Stupid things spit poison or something."

"Did you get any of that on your skin?" Wynne asked, her voice worried.

"No, it hit the armor and it seemed that I'm too tall for them to hit my eyes with it," Lenya shook her head and turned to speak with her and Alistair, "I can't thank you two enough for this armor though. Without it my skin would be covered in the stuff and it really doesn't look like it would be pleasant experience," She smiled at them and only thing Leliana could manage was to return it.

"You are welcome, Lenya," Alistair said and then added, "Maybe we should consider helmets. To get some protection to our eyes. If we have to come back to the Deep Roads that is."

"I don't like helmets. They restrict hearing and eyesight too much," Lenya shook her head and then looked at them all, "Everyone unharmed?" She asked and they all nodded, "Let's go then. We shouldn't be far from the Thaig now."

Lenya was right and it didn't take long before they started to see abandoned dwarven buildings and other signs that dwarves had lived here.

"Just our luck," Lenya sighed when a large cave opened in front of them and they started to hear sounds of fighting, "Let's hope that Lord Dace is still alive or this trip has been for nothing," She hastened her steps and they moved towards the sounds of fighting.

It seemed that Lord Dace was still alive and fighting against the large pack of deep stalkers. Lenya gave a signal and they joined in the fight.

Even with their help the fight lasted quite some time, but in the end the stalkers either were all killed or too afraid to continue their assault.

Lenya motioned Wynne to offer healing to the wounded dwarves as she went to talk with the Lord Dace. Leliana didn't hear what they were saying, but she noticed that the expression of the dwarf changed when Lenya gave him the evidence. His expression turned furious as he read the note.

"I owe you my life and the honor of my house, Warden," Lord Dace was saying when Leliana got closer, "This place isn't safe. Will you travel with us to the Orzammar?"

"I will," Lenya said, "Safety in numbers, right?"

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, The Warden's Rest Inn<strong>

Way back to Orzammar had been uneventful. They didn't see the darkspawn or the deep stalkers. Lenya was grateful for that. Specially on the deep stalker part. Those things made her uneasy.

They left Lord Dace at his house after he thanked them. He had insisted on paying them and since they really did need the money she'd accepted.

"I better go clean the armor or take it off completely before I go talk to lord Helmi," Lenya said and studied her armor. It had darkspawn blood, deep stalker blood and deep stalker poison spit on it, "I think I better just take it off and use normal clothes," She sighed. Cleaning the armor would take some time.

"I do envy Leliana and Wynne," Alistair said, "Not a drop of blood on them."

"That just means we are doing our jobs right," Lenya smiled as they step inside the inn.

Morrigan was sitting at the table when they entered. She gave them a studying look, but didn't say anything. Leliana and Wynne stopped there. She and Alistair went straight to their rooms. He was probably as eager to get his armor off and cleaned as she was.

When Lenya was out off her armor and wearing her normal clothes she studied her armor as it rested on the armor stand. It would take at least an hour to clean it.

Abelas let out a soft bark behind her, "No, you can't lick that. It's poison and besides I don't want you drooling all over my armor," Abelas let out a hurtful whine, "No, it's not a good armor polish," She chuckled, "You big silly," She kneeled in front of Abelas and ruffled its big head. Before she could stop him, he started to lick her face, "Ugh! It's not good face wash either and by the Creators your breath is smelling bad. Darkspawn are really not good diet for you," Abelas let out an happy bark, "Yes, a deer is much better. Unfortunately deers aren't threatening to destroy this world so we are probably meeting more darkspawn than deers," Questioning bark, "No, I don't think deers are just waiting their time before they strike," Abelas tilted his head and barked softly, "Yes, you can watch them and warn me if that changes," She smiled at him and he tried to lick her face again, but she stopped him, "No more licking my face until your breath isn't lethal weapon anymore," Hurtful whine, "Yeah, poor you," She chuckled, "Lets go find this lord Helmi and no you can't lick him either," Abelas let out a sound that sounded almost like he was laughing.

* * *

><p>When Lenya left to find lord Helmi she left on her own. Without her armor and only Abelas with her. She did have her swords sheathed at her back though. She also mentioned that she was going to visit the Shaperate.<p>

Leliana, Zevran, Morrigan and Wynne looked at each other and then Zevran and Morrigan got up and followed Lenya.

Leliana herself waited until they had left before she got up and made her way to Lenya's room. Picking the lock wasn't hard and she was inside before anyone could notice.

She studied Lenya's armor for a moment and then searched Lenya's cleaning kit. She didn't know how much time she would have, so she got straight to work.

It was true that Lenya had not demanded that they hold on to the deal of loser cleaning the armor of the winner, but she wanted to do this for her. Lenya gave so much of herself to the rest of them, that it was only fair that she'd give something back to her.

Humming to herself she cleaned the armor, piece by piece.

When she sometime later left Lenya's room she kind of hoped she could stay and see the look on Lenya's face, but Lenya might get a wrong impression if she'd catch her hiding in the shadows of her room. Even though she left a note on the armor saying, _'Honoring the deal'_.

Still smiling Leliana entered her own room.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: End of the Chapter. Politics on Orzammar... ugh! It's good thing there's the Deep Roads so close with endless supply of darkspawn for killing after Lenya and the Co. gets through the dwarven politics. I think they might need some stress release. :)**

**I wanted to get through Orzammar fast... I always want that when I play the game as well, but it seems that no matter what, Orzammar takes more time than I like. So I end up with at least one more chapter in there. Well, at least I can try to make it bit more fun than it's in the game.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: And we arrive to the chapter 18. Still in Orzammar and dealing with the wonderful world of dwarven politics.**

**Thank you all who have read this far. Special thanks to those who faved/alerted. Extra special thanks to those who reviewed. And my undying gratitude to Faelan for all the support she's given me. Big hugs to you my dear friend. :)**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belong to Bioware. Everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, February 2014: Grammar and other errors fixed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, Diamond Quarter<strong>

As they were walking towards the meeting with Bhelen in the Royal Palace, Leliana was letting her mind linger on what had happen at the morning. Lenya had come down from her room wearing her armor and holding her note in her hand. She had come straight to Leliana and hugged her, "Ma Serannas, lethallan," Lenya had whispered in her ear before pulling away.

Expressions of their companions had been almost as priceless. Alistair had looked shocked and curious at the same time. Zevran had given her a thumbs up. Morrigan had just looked disapproving and so had Wynne. That had seemed a bit strange to Leliana. Why would Wynne disapprove something like that?

"Be on your best behavior and keep your weapons sheathed," Vartag said to them when they were about to enter the palace.

As they walked through the building, Leliana noticed that there were a lot of guards around. Also quite many dwarves in fancy clothes. Those had to be the nobles that supported Bhelen.

"Prince Bhelen is in there," Vartag said and motioned them to go through the door.

Lenya nodded at him and then went through the door.

Prince Bhelen was quite impressive looking dwarf. He studied them for a moment and his eyes lingered on Lenya. Whose armor did not leave any doubt of who she was.

"I am impressed Warden," Bhelen said to Lenya, "Not many outsiders so quickly grasp Orzammar's rather... convoluted politics."

"I doubt I'm grasping them," Lenya said, "To me it's pretty much the same who of you sit on the throne, as long as I get the troops I need to defeat the Blight. You're lucky that I found things about you that made you a better candidate than the other one," She continued.

Leliana noticed almost horrified look on Alistair's face and she was sure her own wasn't far from that. Lenya was using her own kind of diplomacy and she was as subtle as a hammer. Bhelen's eyes widened a bit and then he studied Lenya more carefully. There was now respect in his eyes. That was unexpected.

"Then we have a common goal," Bhelen said finally, "We may not like each other, but the Blight is our first priority," He continued and Lenya nodded, "We need absolute unity to fight against the fulcrum of true evil."

"Then you honor your agreement with the Wardens?" Alistair asked, his voice was hopeful. Leliana was sure that it would not be so easy.

"Absolutely, and sworn on the mail of my ancestors..." Bhelen said. Leliana sensed a but coming there however and by the looks of it, so did Lenya, "... As soon as Orzammar is united under my rule," And there it was, "Unfortunately, while this debate rages, I have no power to send the troops you need," He continued, "You've seen it yourself: The city is a slaughterhouse. Criminals run lawless. I could never hold the throne if I allowed such chaos."

"Are you trying to go back on your word?" Alistair asked and Leliana sighed on that, sometimes he was even worse on the diplomacy than Lenya was.

"I only promised to hear your story," Bhelen said to Alistair and then turned his attention back on Lenya, "Now, I will help when I can, but I must send what troops I have now to combat Jarvia and her so-called carta."

"I saw her men threatening a merchant," Lenya said. That must have been during the previous day when she had went to meet with Lord Helmi – Leliana thought, "Stupid idiots tried to extort money from me, so I would be safe from them," Lenya snorted and Abelas mimicked her.

"She really doesn't need her armor to be intimidating," Zevran whispered behind her, "I doubt these carta dwarves are used to deal with someone who chuckles at their threats and then almost casually draws her sword and beheads their leader."

"What happen then?" Leliana asked and didn't even try to keep up on what Lenya and Bhelen were talking.

"Nothing much. Rest of them were too scared to say or do anything, so Lenya told them that the merchant was under her protection and if they ever came back, she would get nasty," Zevran explained, "They were eager to leave by then."

"I can imagine," Leliana whispered and then tried to focus on Lenya and Bhelen again.

"Just point me at them and your troubles are over," Lenya was just saying.

"Your eagerness is charming," Bhelen said, "If you can do as you say, you will have the troops you need the moment I take the throne," He said and Leliana believed him in that. Problem was that she didn't believe the throne would be settled just so easily. She was certain that Lenya suspected that much as well, "Unfortunately I have little information on Jarvia. Her power base is at Dust town, the lowest part of the city, and my men have few sources there."

"I can find out what I need," Lenya said, "However, I have one question for you before I go solve your problems."

"And what question that might be Warden?" Bhelen asked curiously.

"What do you think of the Casteless?" Lenya asked.

"I think that they have been ignored for too long. We can't afford to just think they don't exist or there won't soon be any dwarves at all. Every year there are less warriors to fight against the darkspawn. Men die before they have had chance to sire children. We just can't afford to look past the strength casteless could provide us if we just would accept them into the army. Tradition forbids this, but I am hoping to change that," Bhelen said and his voice lost the practiced edge of the politician. He really did believe what he was saying. He might be ruthless and he really might have killed his brothers, but he was not just thinking about himself.

"Thank you," Lenya said and bowed to him a little, "Nice to see I wasn't wrong about you," Then she turned around and they left the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, Dust Town<strong>

Dust town had not changed in the few days since their first visit there. Lenya went straight to the woman she'd talked before. Alistair on the other hand studied the surroundings. He'd not seen much of it last time, because he'd been so occupied on holding Lenya still, so she would not go and kill the idiot chantry brother.

"We have a slight problem," Lenya said after she finished her conversation with the dwarf. "According to Nadezda there, the entrances to Jarvia's hideout are hidden just about everywhere, but you can't get inside without something she called a fingerbone token."

"Is our problem finding the entrance or the fingerbone token?" Leliana asked.

"Both actually. All the entrances Nadezda knows of are blocked and she doesn't know where the new ones are," Lenya replied, "I don't think we would necessarily need the tokens thought. Just the entrance would be enough."

"What makes you think that?" Alistair asked.

"I hope I can persuade Shale to make us a new doorway," Lenya replied.

"I might be willing to do that," Shale said, "When it asks nicely. Crushing rock isn't as fun as crushing heads, but for it, I will do it."

"I do appreciate that, Shale," Lenya said, "All this is just pointless if we can't find the entrance though."

"Do you think asking around would be wise?" Alistair asked.

"I don't know, Alistair," Lenya shrugged, "Can't see any other way though."

"If we do get attacked by someone who doesn't like us asking questions it is only a good thing," Zevran said, "The attackers will most likely know where the entrance is and probably even have tokens for them."

"By the Creators, he is right," Lenya said and her eyes brightened up. Alistair wasn't sure, if it was the knowledge, that they had a way to get what they needed or the possibility of the fight, that made them brighten. Knowing Lenya it was probably both.

As Lenya went ahead and asked questions, Alistair started to understand why Lenya had decided to support Bhelen. The conditions these casteless lived were horrible.

If there was one story, that made Alistair think Lenya was right, it was Zerlinda's. Young woman who had begged money from them, so she could feed her son. Lenya had given her coins and asked what was wrong and then she'd told them her story. How her family had cast her out because she didn't want to abandon her son. Her story brought tears to his eyes. How could anyone just demand a mother to kill her own child like that? He was not the only one who had tears in his eyes. Leliana's eyes were moist as well.

Lenya had given her few more coins and told her that she would be better of in the surface. Bitterness in her voice, when she had told Zerlinda, that it was Lenya's own people, the elves, not the dwarves, that humans looked down upon and oppressed, made Alistair wince.

Zerlinda had been able to tell them, that she had seen armed dwarves using one of the houses nearby. Obviously she thought that armed dwarves meant carta and she was most likely correct.

When they stepped inside the house, they were greeted by five dwarves. They acted all bold and confident. What they didn't expect, was that Lenya started to laugh.

"I promise, I'll wait here until you bring some reinforcements. Wouldn't be fair to my companions that there is only enough of you to keep me entertained," Lenya said, her voice amused, "Shale there gets really unhappy, if it can't crush at least few of your heads."

"It have to bring the soft and squishy things outside," Shale said from the door, "I can't quite fit through the door. Without breaking the wall anyway."

"Ah, that's bad," Lenya said, "Would you be so kind and step outside so Shale can crush you?" She asked from the dwarves, who were looking at her like she was out off her mind.

"Jarvia wants you dead," The leader said finally and drew his blade.

"Lenya..." Alistair started to warn her of the two dwarves, that tried to attack her from the sides. There was no need for that however. Lenya unsheathed her swords in one fluid motion and swung them sideways. She didn't use enough force to cut the heads from the two advancing dwarves, but enough to kill them. Her swords stopped in the middle of their necks and blood spurted from the wounds when she pulled them free, "...watch out!" Alistair finished his sentence anyway.

"Sweet ancestors!" The leader of the dwarves said when Lenya's sword tip touched his chin, "You killed them so easily."

"I am very good at what I do," Lenya said, "Now... you give me the token needed to enter Jarvia's hideout and then tell me where the entrance is or I will start chopping off pieces from you and your friends," She commanded.

The dwarven leader swallowed hard and then gave them the instructions and the token needed to open the way, "I will give you one piece of advice," Lenya said to the dwarf, "If I were you, I wouldn't be anywhere near Jarvia. Now, go!"

"Thank you!" The dwarves said and bowed deeply before they left the house in a hurry. Alistair noticed they gave Shale a wide berth.

"Let's go," Lenya wiped her swords clean and sheathed them, "We have a criminal hideout to clean."

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, Carta hideout<strong>

Fighting through the Carta hideout was intense. The dwarves knew, that they were no match for Lenya and her group, but they continued to fight anyway. She had tried to give them choice to leave, but none took it.

They had also seen a qunari, which Sten called Tal-Vasoth, what ever that was. And then there were those two elven mages. Lenya could only guess what would drive elves here, underground. Sadly she could guess quite well, what that one thing might be, that could drive elves, especially mage elves, to seek refuge from Orzammar. The Chantry and its templars.

When they stepped into the next room, she knew instantly, that they had reached Jarvia. There was a dwarven woman standing in the middle of it and there was an air of cockiness around her. Like she was a queen or something.

"So, Bhelen finally realized that his throne means nothing if he can't hold it, yet he still doesn't bother to send his own men," Jarvia said, "Well, you picked wrong side, stranger. It doesn't matter who's king as long as there's a queen!" She said and her eyes had a crazy gleam.

"Well, that's a surprise," Lenya said, "Who would have guessed, that the leader of the Carta is a delusional madwoman," She shook her head, "I have just killed your entire Carta, which is a shame really and your fault by the way, and you think you are going to live long enough to even enjoy your next meal?" She asked and lifted her brow.

"You'll pay their deaths a hundred times over," Jarvia said, "Kill them! But leave the pretty one alive: I have plans for her," He ordered her men and the fight started.

"Did you hear Alistair," Lenya said as she dodged Jarvia's first attack, "She wants to keep you alive."

"Haha, Lenya!" Alistair said and drove his opponent backwards with his shield, "I think she means Leliana."

"You may be right," Lenya chuckled and increased the speed of her attacks, forcing Jarvia to take steps backwards, "Let me just tell you, that I'm not going to let her lay a finger on Leliana," She then promised.

"Agreed," Alistair said, "I don't think her plans involve anything nice."

"Probably not even shoes," Lenya grinned and broke through Jarvia's defenses and delivered a wound on her thigh. She'd heard Leliana speak of shoes with Wynne and her voice had been full of enthusiasm when she'd done so. Probably quite similar as Lenya's own voice became when she talked about swords.

"No shoes?" Alistair said and killed his opponent, "What a horrible thing to do."

"You two stop making fun of me in the middle of the fight!" Leliana yelled at them.

"Whatever you wish, my lady," Lenya said and sent Jarvia's dagger flying and then she ran her through. Blood spurted out of Jarvia's mouth, "I am sorry it came to this, but you brought this on yourself," She said as the light in Jarvia's eyes dimmed and went out. Fight around her was almost over. She saw how Sten killed the last one of Jarvia's men.

"Check the bodies and then lets see where that door there leads," Lenya commanded.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, Diamond Quarters<strong>

Lenya was more than angry and rightfully so. Leliana was surprised, that Lenya had not tried to kill Bhelen, when he'd told her, that after all she'd already done for him, he now would need Lenya to go to the Deep Roads and find a Paragon Branka that had been missing for past five years.

Leliana thought that mostly it was the lack of options that pissed Lenya off. Bhelen used that to his advantage.

"Did you say there was a some kind of tournament going around here?" Lenya asked from her suddenly.

"Yes, dwarves call them provings and those who win them have the blessings of the ancestors," Leliana replied, "When I asked about them, the Proving master told, that most fighters either dedicates their winnings to Bhelen or Harrowmont, so everyone would know which one of the candidates the ancestors favor."

"But you don't have to dedicate it to them?" Lenya asked and Leliana started to see where her train of thought was going. Lenya was considering of joining and winning the Proving on her own name or for the Wardens.

"No, you can enter and fight for the favor of the ancestor for yourself," Leliana explained.

"And I can enter even though I'm not a dwarf?" Lenya asked and she nodded, "Perfect," Lenya said and satisfied smile spread on her lips.

"You want to enter the Provings?" Alistair asked confused, "Why?"

"Because at the moment Bhelen thinks, that he can just tell me to do something and I have to do it and he is right, if we want to get the damn troops," Lenya replied, "But if we win the Provings and gain the favor of the ancestors, we have much more credibility and Bhelen will think twice how far he is going with the favors he's sending us to do for him and besides, I really want to show these damn dwarves, what in the name of the Creators, Grey Wardens can do."

"I think Bhelen was right," Zevran said amused.

"What makes you think that?" Lenya asked looking puzzled.

"You really have grasped the convoluted politics of the dwarves," Zevran smiled at Lenya.

Lenya stared Zevran and then asked, "So, me entering in the Provings, because I'm pissed at Bhelen, is sign of me grasping the politics of the dwarves?"

"That's one way of putting it, my dear Warden," Zevran laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, Provings Arena<strong>

It didn't take them long to get to the Proving arena and for Lenya to sign herself in. Proving Master seemed to be thrilled that a Grey Warden was participating. Leliana and the others were granted a place where they could follow the matches.

"This is a Glory Proving, fought under the eyes of the Paragons of Orzammar to honor the memory of King Endrin," The Proving Master announced.

Lenya's first match was against a dwarf Gwidon and she defeated him in under two minutes, "And the winner is the Grey Warden," The Proving master announced. Leliana was certain that Lenya had that satisfied smile on her lips. She was sure that if she could see Lenya's eyes they would be shining from excitement.

Next round was against twins Mijan and Lucjan. As twins they were apparently counted only as a single fighter. As skilled the twins were, they were not match for Lenya. It gave whole different view of her skills, when you could see them in non life threatening situations, but still used fully.

As Leliana watched Lenya fight, she was now sure, that Lenya had not used her full potential when she had trained with them. Not even against Sten who was the most skilled of them in melee combat.

"She's been holding back on us," Zevran whispered to her and she nodded. So she was not the only one who had noticed it.

Lenya's fight ended when Lucjan was down and her sword tip was touching Mijan's cheek.

"The winner is the Grey Warden," The Proving master announced.

Lenya tore through the ranks of Orzammar's finest in almost casual manner. As the Provings progressed Leliana started to hear cheering whenever Lenya was on the field. Lenya didn't give the audience anything though. She did not speak to them, did not do any boastful motions. She just stood there and let her eyes circle the arena.

"This round is paired combat. Just as Kiotshett fought as King Bloadlikk's second defending our empire, so have dwarves always fought alongside a second," The Proving Master announced suddenly, "Grey Warden, choose your second, for now you face Lord Darvianak Vollney and Olaniv."

Lenya did not hesitate at all before she answered, "I choose Leliana," Leliana heard Lenya say. That made her thoughts to come in halt. Lenya had chosen her?

"You better go down there," Alistair said, "Don't let the dwarves wait."

Leliana left the podium and hurried down to the arena.

"Glad you could join me, lethallan," Lenya said when Leliana stepped to stand beside her.

"Wouldn't someone who is better with melee weapons be better?" Leliana asked.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "You are what I need," She said and that made Leliana blink. Did Lenya just flirt with her or was she getting those premonitions again.

"How is it that our weapons don't kill?" Leliana asked and tried to get her thoughts together again.

"I don't know," Lenya shrugged, "There are powerful runes etched on the arena and I can feel their power is awakened, so maybe it's because of that. I only know that I can make wounds and getting hit hurts a lot, but the hits lack the strength to kill," Then she turned to look at her, "This has been a tremendous fun," Lenya grinned and her eyes sparkled and they were breathtakingly beautiful.

"You... you have been enjoying yourself," Leliana managed and turned her eyes away from Lenya's eyes. She couldn't afford the distraction now, "I can tell."

"I bit," Lenya said and she could hear the smile she had on her lips, "Ah, our opponent is here," She then said and Leliana turned to look at the two dwarves that were approaching them. She saw Lenya bow slightly and the dwarves respond with a bow of their own.

"Last one standing will be declared victor! Fight!" The Proving Master said.

At first she hesitated to shoot her arrows, but when the other dwarf threw a knife at her she dropped her hesitation. She shot arrow after arrow to the dwarves Lenya kept busy. Neither of the dwarves could break away from that fight and come to harass her. They tried though and result was painful looking hits from Lenya's swords.

Then the other dwarf made a mistake and Lenya dropped him like a stone. It was really remarkable how her swords seemed only grace the dwarf. Enough to make him bleed, but not enough to make him die.

Remaining dwarf couldn't hold against both of them for long and he fell soon after his second.

When the dwarves were down, Lenya just sheathed her swords and stood still. Waiting for the Proving master to announce them as winners.

"The winner is the Grey Warden!" The Proving Master announced.

"Do you still need me?" Leliana asked when they got away from the arena.

"Yes," Lenya replied, "Next round is the Championship round and as far as I've understood I will be fighting against Bhelen's cousin and his group."

"How big a group?" Leliana asked.

"Four, including Piotin Aeducan," Lenya said and then spoke to the dwarf nearby. The dwarf nodded and ran away, "I sent messenger to Alistair and Zevran," Lenya replied to her unasked question.

"No healer?" Leliana asked curiously.

"No, I want to beat them without the advantage of mages. Piotin doesn't have one, so I won't be using Wynne or Morrigan either," Lenya said, "I want to beat them in their own terms and I want to make everyone see what it really means, that Grey Wardens are said to be fighters without equal."

"Only two of your group are Wardens though," Leliana pointed out.

"Yes, but Wardens or no, you all have been chosen by a Warden," Lenya said.

"Even if the Warden in question was rather reluctant to accept some of us?" Leliana asked smiling a little.

"Even then," Lenya smiled and then turned to face Alistair and Zevran who walked to them, "There you are."

"You sent for us?" Alistair asked and Lenya nodded.

"Last round will be full unit, four against four," Lenya explained, "You all pick one to attack and leave Piotin to me."

"You sure he is going to fight you and not someone else?" Alistair asked.

"Alistair, I've just beaten every last one of the finest warriors they have, without much difficulties I might add," Lenya grinned, "Racial pride alone would make him want to bring me down himself. Not to mention that he is Bhelen's cousin. None of them want me to succeed. They want me beaten and they want it so badly, that they may just try to get me down as fast as possible. Even if it would mean they would loose to the rest of you," She explained, still grinning, "Believe me when I say, that he will fight me. He has no choice and I'm going to beat the living stone out of him."

"Could you stop grinning like that... Please!" Alistair said and a shudder seemed to go through him, "It's rather unsettling."

"Championship round starts!" The Proving Master announced.

"It's starting," Lenya breathed out excitedly and then lead them into the arena.

"This is a Glory Proving, fought under the eyes of the Paragons of Orzammar to honor the memory of King Endrin," The Proving Master announced, "Only two warriors remain. Fighting for his Royal cousin Bhelen, Piotin Aeducan has led his team to triumph over every unit so far," He continued and Piotin offered small glance to the audience. Almost all of his attention was on Lenya. Proving that she'd been right. They would try to bring Lenya down as fast as possible.

"Challenging him, the Grey Warden came from nowhere, cutting a swath through the Orzammar's finest warriors," Cheer erupted from the audience and Lenya just let her eyes sweep through the audience, "Each will lead a full unit of four soldiers, to see once and for all whom the ancestors favor," The Proving Master ended his introductions.

"You fight well, it will be pleasure to seeing you fall," Piotin said to Lenya.

"The pleasure is all mine," Lenya said smiling.

While they waited for the Proving Masters word that would start the fight, Leliana studied their opponents. One was using a bow, so he was hers. Piotin's second used a shield and a sword. He would be Alistair's. Other melee fighter was armed with two swords and he would be Zevran's.

Then there was Piotin himself. He was armed with a huge two handed axe. That send a chill up on Leliana's spine. Even with the magic keeping blows from being lethal, that axe could do bad wounds and probably could break bones as well.

"Last one standing will be declared victor! Fight!" The Proving Master yelled and the fighting started, preventing her from worrying more about Lenya.

The archer took Lenya as his target, but was forced to abandon that when Leliana's arrows forced him to move. She saw Alistair and Zevran interrupting their marks as they were trying to attack on Lenya as well. Lenya had read their opponents perfectly. Before Leliana returned to bringing the archer down she saw annoyed look on Piotin's face when his team was blocked from attacking Lenya. He hid it fast, but it was there and then he attacked Lenya.

Piotin's archer was nowhere near her level and Leliana brought him down fast. He dropped on to the ground and held his arm. Her arrow had hit it and rendered it useless.

When she turned her attention to others she saw that Alistair had already brought down his target and Zevran was about to do the same.

Lenya and Piotin however, were nowhere near finishing their fight. Lenya danced around him and dodged the swings of the big axe with ease. She counter attacked after every dodge and Piotin's armor started to show wear and she could also see blood in some places.

"You three stay out of this," Lenya ordered as she parried a blow to her head. She redirected the blow and the axe buried itself on the ground. She moved closer to Piotin and hit him in the side of his head with her elbow, making him stagger, but even then he managed to hit Lenya back. Forcing her to take a step backwards.

Piotin backed a bit and touched the place where Lenya had hit him, "So, it's true that the Wardens are strong," He said, "Didn't think, that tiny thing like you, could hit that hard," He added and rubbed his jaw.

"Lot of things about the Wardens are true," Lenya said and touched her bruised lip, "But you really should not let that hold you back. I could barely feel that hit," She added and spat out blood. Then she grinned at him, "Are you ready to start the fight then?"

Leliana could see Piotin's eyes narrow, but he didn't say anything. Lenya gave her swords a whirl and then made a beckoning motion.

Then the pair really started their fight. Both had been holding back until now, but now they were fully committed to the fight.

Piotin was good, but Lenya was better and she'd trained with Sten, who also used two-handed weapon, every evening for several weeks now. She knew how weapon like that handled and in the end, that was what settled the fight. One mistake from Piotin and his axe was wrestled from him and two longsword were crossed at his neck.

"You lose," Lenya said smiling.

"It seems so," Piotin said, "Well fought, Warden," He bowed to her.

"The winner is the Grey Warden!" The Proving Master announced, "Congratulations. You defeated the man Prince Trian once called 'the horns of my army'," He continued and then asked, "Do any deny this Grey Warden has earned the championship?"

There was almost touchable silence and then the Proving Master nodded, "Then, I am pleased to announce the Grey Warden as the winner of this memorial Proving, the favorite of the Ancestors!"

"It was an honor," Lenya bowed and Leliana saw her wince when she did that. It was just a small motion and she was sure no one else saw it, but it was there. She started to go to Lenya, but her eyes told Leliana to stay away.

"Through this day, we affirm the friendship between our city and your order," The Proving Master said and Lenya bowed again. Now that Leliana knew that something was amiss she saw her wince again. She studied her worriedly. There was a dent in Lenya's armor just below her chest. She didn't know when that had come there.

Then Lenya lead them away from the arena.

"You're wounded," Leliana whispered to her.

"It's nothing," Lenya said.

"It's not nothing," Leliana insisted, "I saw you wince and I saw the dent in your armor."

"At the inn," Lenya said, "We talk about that at the inn," She said with a voice that told Leliana to back off.

"At the inn," Leliana said and then they walked in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, The Warden's Rest Inn<strong>

"To your room and off with the armor young lady," Wynne ordered Lenya as soon as they entered at the inn. Leliana had told Wynne that she was wounded as soon as she'd seen the mage.

"You really need to do better than that if you want to see me naked," Lenya countered.

"Now, young lady!" Wynne said and her voice gained more authority.

Lenya did as Wynne commanded, but muttered a few selected curses in elven to her.

"You stupid girl," Wynne said after she'd examined her, "You have two broken ribs."

"How does that make me stupid?" Lenya asked.

"You should have stopped the fight when you got these," Wynne said, "You're lucky that they did not puncture your lungs."

"I hardly could stop the fight when I got these and besides, I know what I'm doing. This is not the first time I've broken my ribs," Lenya said and fixed her eyes on Wynne's.

Wynne dropped her eyes first, "I should let those heal on their own, just to teach you a lesson," She said and then the magic awoke around her as she directed it to heal Lenya. A gasp left Lenya's lips when the bones knit together. She also noticed that Wynne did not heal her bruised lip.

"What lesson that would be then?" Lenya asked when she had got her breathing in control again, "That broken bones hurt? Or is this some of the duty and responsibility lessons again?"

"I will not talk to you when you are hurt and when you are obviously spoiling for a fight," Wynne said and stood up, "You need to rest," She added and then left the room.

"Are you alright?" Leliana asked from the door.

"Just one big happy bundle of joy," Lenya said and then yawned, "I hate it how magical healing of the bones seem to take all the energy out of you."

"You've had your bones mended like this before?" Leliana asked.

"Twice," Lenya nodded and then started to speak, "We were hunting with Tamlen and this huge deer, I mean really huge, like a giant, unexpectedly started to run towards us when our arrows hit it. I was so surprised that I didn't get away until it was almost too late. Which of course resulted for me to dive into the rocks. Now the fall wasn't long, but enough to crack three of my ribs. By the Creators did we get yelled at because of that," She chuckled at the memory.

"Why did they yell at you?" Leliana asked.

"Well, we were only twelve years old and the Keeper had forbid us to go out on hunting alone," Lenya replied, "Tamlen had seen that big deer however and wanted to make an impression, that he was a great hunter. I'm not sure how he intended to bring it to the camp and not for us to get caught, but it didn't seem that important at the time anyway."

"You miss him," Leliana said gently.

"Very much," Lenya said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper, "He was my best friend and we didn't even find his body," She fought against the tears.

Leliana seemed to sense that she did not want to talk about that, "What was the second time you broke your bones?" She asked.

"It was before we came to Brecilian. We were about to move soon, but apparently nearby shem village thought we'd been there too long already or it might be that the bandits just stumbled on us. I don't know. I got the feeling that I should be with the hunters that day," Lenya explained and then closed her eyes and she was spirited to that day, "We were attacked by six filthy shem men. Or more precisely Shiale was attacked. They caught her by surprise as she was studying animal tracks and was a bit farther from me and Junar. Her yells alerted us and we ran to her and came upon the scene where the shems were trying to rip the clothes off from Shiale. There was no question of what they were planning and I was not going to let that happen. So I attacked," Lenya remembered that day like it was yesterday. Rage she'd felt back then. Worry over Shiale. Everything, "They thought it was so cute when they saw me attacking. That didn't last. I killed two of them in a heartbeat. Beheaded the one who was trying to rape Shiale. I was careless though and one of them managed to hit me with something, hammer or tree. I don't know. It broke four of my rips and I would have probably ended up raped and killed if I'd been alone there, but Junar and Shiale killed the remaining shems. They carried me back to the camp and Keeper mended the bones," She stopped and yawned.

* * *

><p>Leliana listened Lenya's voice as she spoke of her past. When she spoke like that, she seemed to be far older than she actually was. Even though she did not know how old Lenya actually was. It was no wonder that Lenya was so suspicious of humans. All her encounters with them had been bad.<p>

When Lenya stopped speaking Leliana listened for a while, if she would continue, but only thing she heard was even breathing. Lenya was sleeping.

"Makes you want to apologize for being a human when you listen to her," Alistair whispered behind her. Almost scaring her to death.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," Leliana said and noticed amused expression on his face. It was doubtful, that he'd sneaked since he had his armor on, "I do know what you mean though."

"We better go to sleep as well," Alistair said, "If I know her, we are going to leave to the Deep Roads tomorrow."

"You're probably right," Leliana said and closed the door to Lenya's room, "Good night, Alistair," She then said and turned to leave.

"Good night, Leliana," Alistair replied and left to his own room.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And here we are at the end of the chapter 18 and hopefully done with the Orzammar politics... for now.**

**Now, I don't know how they make sure people don't die on the Provings. I know the Proving where Oghren kills that some lords son was for the first blood, but the Provings you participate hardly seem to be only to first blood. And since they all use their own weapons how they make sure there's no deaths? Which made me come up with the runes around the arena making sure it's damn hard to kill someone. Hurt, bleed and knocked out yes, but killing not so easy.**

**As I get ME3 tomorrow or day after that, there wont be update on this weekend. If I now write something and play ME3 at the same time Lenya might end up fighting Reapers as well. So I will take a little break from this story. Week and a half at least, so I can play ME3 through at least once. Hopefully I will be back with new chapter in couple of weeks. :)**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are always welcome.**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Finally the chapter 19 is done and Lenya is done with the dwarven politics, for now anyway and the Deep Roads call them. I apologize that it took so long to get an update out, but it took a bit to get my drive to write back after seeing the ending of ME3. Hopefully I can get back to weekly updates, but I don't promise anything yet. **

**I wish to thank everyone who has read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted and extra special thanks to those who reviewed. And my eternal gratitude for the invaluable support goes to Faelan. Thank you, my dear friend, for your continued support.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned Bioware. Everything you don't recognize is mine. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, February 2014: Fixed grammar and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, The Warden's Rest Inn<strong>

Lenya really did not wait their journey to the Deep Roads with any enthusiasm. Their brief visit there earlier would have been more than enough for her.

"How long will our taint preventing potions last?" She asked from Morrigan.

"I and the preachy schoolmistress have made enough for three weeks," Morrigan replied, "After that we still have ingredients for another three weeks, but then we either have to be out of the Deep Roads or find more ingredients."

"Six weeks then," Lenya said and Morrigan nodded, "We could see if we can find more ingredients before we go, but I'm not sure I like the idea that we could be underground longer than six weeks," Even a week would be more than she liked – Lenya though and emptied her backpack on her bed.

"I don't relish the idea of that either," Morrigan said and then Lenya heard her gasp.

"What is it?" Lenya asked and turned to look at the witch.

"That book," Morrigan said and pointed at the black tome Lenya had took from the tower, "Where did you get that?"

"From Irving's room in the Circle tower," Lenya replied, "I got the feeling, that I need to take it with me, so I did." She continued and saw almost hungry look in Morrigan's golden eyes, "You know it?"

"Yes... it is one of my mothers grimoires," Morrigan replied. Her gaze never left from the book, "Flemeth told me once that a lucky templar managed to steal one from her and she always speaks of that with great amount of rage," She touched the tome with unusual gentleness, "When I saw the disarray in the tower I thought about asking you to look for it, but then we got trapped in the fade and after that you were not really approachable."

"I had some... issues, back then," Lenya said, "What's in this thing anyway?" She asked then and picked up the tome from the bed.

"'Tis a book of spells, of the sort that Flemeth has dabbled with throughout her long life," Morrigan replied, "'Tis not the sort of thing that would benefit a mage of the standard variety, like the schoolmistress there. She was taught a different path. I, however, was taught by my mother," She added, "I know the way around the wards my mother would have placed on such a tome. I know the language that she would have written it in. I would find such a tome... most useful," She continued and her eyes never left from the tome. So the book was important and only Morrigan could read it. How very convenient – Lenya thougth.

"So, it's a book of power that only you can read?" Lenya said and Morrigan nodded, "Well, isn't it fortuitous that your mother send you with us. How would we ever have known what is in that thing otherwise."

"There is no need for sarcasm," Morrigan said, "Will you give the tome to me?"

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "I imagine, that was the reason, why I felt the need to pick it up in the first place," She added and studied Morrigan for a while, "I just wonder who would suffer if I would not give it to you," She offered the tome to Morrigan, who took it without a moment of hesitation.

"Thank you," Morrigan said, "I can't wait to see what is in it."

"Have fun," Lenya smiled at the witch, "Go tell the others, that we are eating here before we leave and also tell them not to take anything they don't need in the Deep Roads. Every extra space we have is needed for the supplies."

"As you wish, Lenya," Morrigan said and absentmindedly stroked the book in her hands.

* * *

><p><strong>Orzammar, at the entrance to the Deep Roads<strong>

They were about to enter the Deep Roads when a thud of armored feet hitting on the ground and a mild clattering of metal armor from behind them made Leliana and the others turn around.

"Oh great... him," Lenya said when she saw who was running towards them.

"Ah, our drunken dwarven friend from the tapsters," Zevran smiled.

"There you are. I thought I'd spoken to a Grey Warden, but for some reason I'd chalked it up to the drink," The dwarf said and the smell coming from him was staggering, "Ah, I know you're down here to look for Branka, and, uh, I need to ask a favor," The dwarf then said to Lenya.

"Why not?" Lenya sighed, "Everyone else does."

"Name's Oghren, and if you've ever heard of me before, it's probably all been about how I piss ale and kill little boys who look at me wrong," The dwarf laughed at that, "And that's mostly true, but the part they never say is that I'm the only one still trying to save our only Paragon."

"Seems that everyone is looking for her now," Lenya pointed out, "You even thought I'd be the one to find her for you when we last spoke, but then went on blaming that I'm like everyone else and then you passed out."

"That really happen?" Oghren asked looking curious, "I thought I might have seen things."

"You still might," Lenya shrugged.

"True," Oghren said, "But if you're really looking for Branka, I'm the only one who knows what she was looking for. Which might be pretty sodding helpful in finding her."

"If you know all that already then why have you been waiting two years here and not gone after her?" Lenya asked.

"Believe me, I have. But where she was going, it's a lost Thaig. No one has seen it for centuries. I search as far as I could, but..." Oghren said and let out a resigned sigh. Leliana was impressed though. For someone going into the Deep Roads alone and survive. That took skill or huge amounts of luck, "It would take teams of warriors searching weeks on end to cover enough ground to hope to find it," He continued, "Which, I assume, is what Bhelen's scouts have done. And they gave the fruits of their labor to you."

"Yes, I have a map to..." Lenya said and took a look at her map, "...Carridin's cross. Whatever that is," Leliana saw Oghren's eyes brighten when he heard that.

"But they have not found Branka herself, and that means that whatever they've got, is not enough if you don't know what she was looking for," Oghren said and then fixed his eyes on Lenya's, "If we pool our knowledge, we stand a chance of finding Branka. Otherwise, good sodding luck."

Lenya sighed and shook her head, "Don't I have enough armed lunatics following me already?" She asked.

"Perfect," Oghren said, "What's one more?" He asked smiling, "Branka was a brilliant girl, but half the time she added two and two and make it fifty. You want to find her, you need someone who knows how she thinks."

"You can come," Lenya said finally, "But if you cross me, I will sever your head from your body," She added almost casually.

"Perfect. You are ready to get going?" Oghren asked grinning. Not really the answer you usually got when Lenya threatened someone.

"Since it seems we have one more to come with us, we need to get more of the potions that prevents you from getting tainted," Lenya said.

"Bah! Keep your potions," Oghren said and waved his hand dismissively, "I've never needed more than my own drinks and I'm not going start drinking someone else's drinks now."

"Suit yourself, but if you get tainted, the head chopping is guaranteed even if you've not crossed me," Lenya said.

"What?" Alistair said, "No questions of text written on you this time?" He asked and grinned at Lenya.

"You all would just lie to me anyway and Zevran would most likely ask me to take my clothes off so he could do a thorough search," Lenya replied.

"You are going to take your clothes off?" Oghren asked, "Want to polish old trumpet with ol' Oghren?"

"The head chopping or maybe trumpet chopping can be done immediately as well," Lenya pointed out, "You can do the polishing of your trumpet on your own."

"Aren't you a feisty one," Oghren said and gave a dirty grin to Lenya.

"If he continues that, Lenya will really behead him," Morrigan said behind Leliana, "Can't say it would be a big loss," She added and Leliana could only agree.

Lenya rolled her eyes and then grinned at the dwarf, "I may also destroy all your drinks... like, say I tie you in the rock and then pour them to the ground very, very slowly as you are forced to watch and then when you are thirsty and just aching for something to drink, I will give you... water."

"You... you evil woman! Keep your sodding fingers away from my stash!" Oghren said and now he was staring Lenya with a horrified look on his face.

"And you just keep polishing your trumpet on your own and I don't have to be mean to completely innocent brews," Lenya said smiling, "Now, let us go," She then commanded and headed towards the Deep Roads entrance.

"Is she always that evil?" Oghren asked from Zevran.

"Evil?" Zevran asked and there was mischievous glint in his eyes, "I thought she was rather nice to you. You don't want to see when she's evil. It's scary! Nightmare stuff," He said and then hurried after Lenya without waiting what Oghren might say.

Oghren stared after Zevran and then followed him. Muttering about evil brew hating elves. Leliana had a wide grin on her face as she walked behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>Deep Roads, third night<strong>

It was Lenya's turn to keep watch against the darkspawn so Alistair could get some sleep. With only two of them able to sense the darkspawn, one of them had to be up all the time. It was not so bad, not yet anyway. Taint gave them both strength, but eventually the strain would start to affect on them both.

As she sat on the rock and stared at the walls around their camp she let her mind wander.

At first the Deep Roads had been as bad as they had been few days earlier. After being there three days it was getting clear that it was much, much worse.

They had met darkspawn and deep stalkers, but nothing on those was out of ordinary. Darkspawn did not unsettle her at all and deep stalkers, even if they were creepy and disgusting, were only an annoyance.

What unsettled Lenya was the pressure she felt from the walls around them and of course there was the taint. Pressure of the taint was now constant and she saw everything through bluish glow all the time. There was no way she could just shut the feeling of it out.

Lenya shook her head and sighed. No, she did not like the Deep Roads, not one bit. She actually welcomed the darkspawn attacks. They gave her a moment of reprieve because the heat of the battle made her forget they were underground.

Lenya turned her head and studied her companions. Most were sleeping, but Oghren was on watch duty. Others kept watch from the other dangers and of course they also kept an eye on her and Alistair. She was glad that she'd accepted Oghren with them. He was obnoxious, smelled even worse than Abelas and Alistair combined and he was drunk most of the time, but his stone sense, as he called it, let him choose the paths that didn't end up on dead ends. He was also a terror in a battle. Even more so than Lenya herself was. She cut a lot of heads and limps, but Oghren pretty much decimated and cut his targets into a tiny bits with his two handed axe.

"How are you?" A gentle voice asked and mild flowery scent, scent that somehow overpowered the smell of the Deep Roads, announced Leliana's arrival.

"Aside from not liking to be underground, I'm just overjoyed," Lenya replied, "I think I build a house here. Great ambiance."

"And a lot of things for you to kill when you get frustrated," Leliana said.

"Exactly," Lenya turned to look at Leliana. Forcing a smile on her face, "Tell me something," She then said.

"What would you like to hear?" Leliana asked and lifted her brow questioningly.

"Anything that has nothing to do with the Deep Roads," Lenya shrugged, "Tell me why did you decide to come to Ferelden?"

"My mother was from Denerim and I considered myself a Fereldan," Leliana replied, "Mother served an Orlesian noblewoman who lived here when Orlais ruled. When Orlais was defeated and the common folk started to recent the presence of any Orlesian, the Lady returned to Orlais. She took my mother with her," She continued, "I was born in Orlais and did not set foot in Ferelden till much later. Mother was always telling me stories of her homeland. I think she missed it."

"Was she not happy at Orlais?" Lenya asked. Not wanting Leliana stop speaking. There was something in Leliana's voice that Lenya could have just listened for hours and in the darkness of the Deep Roads it brought brightness with it.

"She wasn't unhappy. We had a good life and she liked Orlais well enough," Leliana continued and then her lips curved up in a smile and her eyes light up, "I loved it, though. Val Royeaux was so vibrant... colorful," Then her expression changed sad, "Mother died when I was very young. Lady Cecilie let me stay with her. I had no one else."

"That was very kind of her," Lenya said. Hoping it was the right thing to say. Most of her experiences with shems were not peaceful and she certainly did not know what was acceptable and what was not. So she hoped she would not insult Leliana somehow.

"She was quite old then, and she had me study music and dance to entertain her," Leliana said smiling a little, "It is unfair, that I have more memories of Cecilie than my mother."

"Do you remember nothing of your mother?" Lenya asked.

Leliana smiled at her, "Strangely, the only thing I really remember of my mother is her scent. She kept dried flowers in her closet, amongst her clothes," Was that why Leliana herself always seemed to smell like flowers as well? - Lenya wondered, "Small, white Fereldan wildflowers with a sweet fragrance. Mother called them Andraste's Grace. They were very rare in Orlais," She knew that flower. Maybe she could find some for Leliana when they were out of these damn tunnels - Lenya's mind came in a crashing halt at that. Was she really thinking about getting flowers for Leliana?

"What about your mother?" Lenya heard Leliana ask and then look at her worriedly, "Something wrong? Is it darkspawn?"

"No, nothing is wrong. I just drifted into a better place when I listened your voice. It's very lovely and soothing," She did not just say that? - Lenya stole a quick glance at Leliana and there was a blush on Leliana's cheeks, - Yes she did actually say that. Lenya could feel blush spreading on her own face now as she realized that, "I... I need to... walk a bit... stretch my legs," She said and got up. She didn't dare to look at Leliana again.

* * *

><p>Leliana watched as Lenya walked away. She'd never seen Lenya so uncertain or stumbling over her words. And she'd certainly never seen her blushing. That made her smile.<p>

She'd known that Lenya was interested in her. Seen small signs of it. Hoped those signs were true. Then they had the hair conversation and she'd been so sure of Lenya's interest. After that Lenya had not done anything that would have clearly shown her interest. Again she'd just seen the small signs and started to doubt her judgment of the situation.

Now there was no doubt in her mind anymore. What she'd just witnessed from Lenya had only one explanation. Lenya had feelings towards her. That alone made her smile widen.

Leliana knew that Lenya would have difficulties to accept her feelings, her being human was one reason and Lenya, not being over Merrill, was another, but she could be patient.

It was completely weird to feel so good in the midst of all this darkness and feeling of wrongness all around them. It seemed that a single ray of hope and beauty could really banish the darkness. Her ray of hope had just arrived and it was utterly beautiful.

* * *

><p><strong>Deep Roads, Carridin's Cross<strong>

At the Sixth day, at least Alistair though it was a day, they arrived into the Carridin's cross. To Alistair it looked much like any other parts of the Deep Roads, but Oghren seemed to think it was something special.

"Alistair," Lenya said, "Do you feel them?" She asked when he turned to look at her.

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "There is also something in the feel of them that makes my hair stand up."

"Like they are excited?" Lenya asked and Alistair nodded. So she felt it as well. No wonder with her enhanced sense of the taint.

"What could make them so excited?" Alistair asked.

"You're asking me?" Lenya said and rolled her eyes, "The Archdemon?" She suggested then.

"Maker, I hope not," Alistair said, "We are nowhere near ready to face it."

"I know, but that is only thing I can think of why darkspawn would be excited," Lenya sighed, "I guess only way to find out is to go and kill them."

"You have a strange way of finding out things, Lenya," Alistair chuckled.

"It has been working well so far," Lenya smiled at him.

It was hard not to respect Lenya. The Deep Roads scared her more than any monster they had seen so far, but she overcame that fear and lead them with same skill and fervor she'd done on the surface. He had also noticed a change in Lenya after the third night. Zevran had told him that Lenya and Leliana had spoken that night and he'd seen himself them speaking again at next night. What ever Leliana had said it had helped calm Lenya somewhat.

Alistair still could feel Lenya's fear through the taint, but it was diminished somehow. Like there was something keeping it at bay. He turned to look at Leliana who was standing with Wynne and Morrigan at the back of the group.

Leliana lifted her brows when she noticed his stare. Alistair blushed a little for getting caught like that, "How far you think the darkspawn are?" He asked trying to hide his blush.

"Close," Lenya said and her eyes seemed to glow brighter, "And I feel something behind us."

"What?" Alistair asked and turned to look at the way they've arrived.

"I don't know," Lenya shrugged, "It's faint and it's definitely something I've never felt before."

"Let's go kill the group we know is there and see if what ever you feel behind us appears as well," Alistair suggested and Lenya nodded.

"I'll take the rear as I can feel it and you don't," Lenya said, "You lead us to the group you can feel," She added and then left him stand there alone. Alistair still hated it when Lenya just out of the blue made him lead them. He understood her reasons of doing that now, he was the only other one who could sense the darkspawn, but it didn't make it any better. He feared constantly that he would do something stupid and get them all killed.

Alistair sighed to himself and then he lead them in the direction where the taint told him they would find the darkspawn. Oghren walked with him, as he always did walk with the one who lead. His stone sense prevented them from walking dead ends or when the stone was not suitable for them to walk upon.

It didn't take them long before he could sense the darkspawn in greater detail. Their excitement was still very odd and it seemed to grow.

"The darkspawn seem excited," Alistair said to no one in particular.

"That's never a good thing," Oghren said, "Best just to go and kill them all."

"That was the plan," Alistair pointed out, "What can you tell about the side passages we passed there?"

"Both of the passages soon end up in a slightly larger open spaces," Oghren said. It was fascinating how he knew that just by touching the stone near the entrances of those passages.

"So we don't have to fear darkspawn coming from those then," Alistair sighed in relief.

"I didn't say that," Oghren said. "Sodding spawn can dig through rock like it was not even there. There isn't really safe places in the Deep Roads," He added and spat to the ground. Then he got his flask out and took a big gulp from it. It was baffling how he seemed to have endless supply of alcohol with him, "So, there's spawn over there?" Oghren asked after he'd put his drink away.

"Over dozen hurlocks and same number of genlocks and a few I haven't met before. They are lead by an hurlock emissary if I'm not mistaken," Alistair replied.

"Those you don't know are probably shrieks," Oghren said.

"What are those?" Alistair asked curiously.

"Nasty things that try to sneak up on you and kill you before you even know they are there. If they fail that, they tend to shriek like Branka when she was thinking I'd done something I shouldn't," Oghren explained, "Horrible stuff. Usually makes the new ones freeze up and then they are cut down."

"I take your word for how bad the shrieking is," Alistiar said, "Not that I have much choice on that since I've never met Branka or heard her shrieking."

"Lucky man," Oghren said and readied his axe, "Lets go shove our boot up the darkspawn arses."

"I'd rather not," Alistair muttered and signaled the others that there would be fighting ahead.

The fight went as expected. Hurlocks and genlocks were cut down without problems. Even the shrieks posed no threat. First time he heard them shrieking was a bit unsettling, but nothing he could not overcome.

He was just finishing up the emissary when he heard Leliana yell in terror. He spun around and saw two shrieks and hurlocks trying to drag Leliana and Morrigan away. He started to run towards them, but knew he would be too late.

Next thing he saw was a flash of silverite in the midst of the darkspawn who tried to drag Leliana and Morrigan away. Then the whole area was showering black blood as Lenya made short work of the darkspawn. She moved like she was possessed.

More darkspawn poured from behind them and they all seemed to show interest in the women they'd been dragging away. Even with Lenya there, they tried to get a hold of Leliana and Morrigan. Alistair could feel the excitement in the taint. Why were they so excited about Leliana and Morrigan?

When he joined the fight against these reinforcements he heard Lenya cursing the darkspawn as she cut them down, "Touch my girl, will you?" He heard her speaking as she cut a genlock in half, "Not while I breathe!" She added and beheaded a shriek.

Then the fight was over. Alistair couldn't feel anymore darkspawn nearby. Only the background feel of the taint, that he always felt down here.

Lenya did not sheath her weapons though. She was standing protectively in front of Leliana and Morrigan. She looked dangerous.

"All the darkspawn are dead, Lenya," Alistair said.

"I know," Lenya said, but she didn't move, "I was almost too late," She then said and started to shake, "If I'd understood the feeling just a moment later they would have taken her... them."

"The feeling you had?" Alistair asked and Lenya nodded, "What was it?" He then asked and studied the dead darkspawn. None of them looked any different than the darkspawn he'd seen and killed before.

"Them," Lenya said and pointed all the dead darkspawn around her, "They were underground. Their feeling in the taint almost masked by the background taint," She explained and Alistair sighed, that made sense and he should have thought of that earlier.

"I told you there is no safe place in the roads," Oghren said behind him.

"Yes, it seems so," Alistair nodded, "Why were they trying to drag Leliana and Morrigan away alive?" He asked then, "And why not Wynne?" the darkspawn had just ignored Wynne even though she'd killed many of them.

"I don't know," Lenya said and finally wiped the blood from her swords and sheathed them, "But from now on they will be walking in the middle of the group where we can protect them better," She added.

"I don't need coddling," Morrigan said when Lenya helped her up. Her voice betrayed her though. She was visibly shaken.

"No, you don't need coddling, but you do need protection," Lenya said and then she turned to look at Leliana, "Are you hurt, lethallan?" She asked and her whole being seemed to change. There was gentleness in Lenya as she spoke to Leliana. Even the worry in her voice couldn't mask that. It seemed that Leliana had managed to conquer the heart of their fierce leader. Did Lenya know that yet was a whole another matter.

"I'm unhurt," Leliana said, "Thanks to you." She added and gave a grateful smile to Lenya.

"I almost did not make it," Lenya said and dropped her eyes to the ground, "If I'd been only little bit slower..." She started and visible shudder went through her, "I should have been more careful."

"This is not your fault, Lenya," Leliana said sternly, "No one really knows why darkspawn do what they do, so you had no way of knowing." 

"Thank you, but that's not true," Lenya said, "I knew there was something behind us. I didn't know what that was, but I knew there was something. If you don't believe me, then ask from Alistair. I told him about it. This was my screw up and you and Morrigan almost paid the price of that. I won't let that happen again," She added and then she left them standing there.

Leliana looked like she wanted to go after Lenya, but then she sighed.

"She will be alright," Alistair said.

"I think what you mean is that she is safe from the darkspawn, but not really alright," Leliana said.

"Something like that," Alistair admitted, "There isn't anymore darkspawn anywhere near us so we should find a place to camp," They would need a rest after fight like this and Lenya would need some time to calm down.

* * *

><p><strong>The Deep Roads, Ortan Thaig<strong>

"I hate spiders," Lenya said and pushed a dead spider off from her. Stupid thing had tackled her and tried to bite and sting her while she was on the ground. She'd shoved her gauntlets into it's mouth and crushed it's jaws before snapping it's head off.

"Don't like them much either," Alistair said, "But they don't creep me out nearly as much as the ghost dwarves," Ever since they'd arrived to the Thaig, Oghren said to be the Ortan Thaig, they had been attacked by spiders, some kind of ghosts and golems.

"Nothing on these things I can kill creep me out, well maybe the stalkers, blegh!" Lenya said, "What really does creep me out is the damn Deep Roads," She added then, "Can you feel any darkspawn?" She asked then. It was really odd feeling she got from the taint. It was all around them and there was tainted creatures all around them, but not a single darkspawn.

"No," Alistair shook his head, "Only thing I can feel are the spiders and the dwarf we saw before these things attacked us."

"I don't like this," Lenya said. This silence from the darkspawn was unnerving. All the way here darkspawn had attacked them and tried to get their hands on Leliana and Morrigan. Who both were now constantly guarded. For the darkspawn suddenly disappear completely didn't make sense, "If someone would have told me a week ago that I would, at some point, miss having darkspawn attacking me, I would have probably killed him, but here I am now, feeling uneasy because they don't attack me. How crazy is that?"

"I'd say it's really crazy, but it suits you," Leliana said behind her.

"So you think I'm crazy then, lethallan?" Lenya turned to look at Leliana.

"Absolutely," Leliana smirked at her, "In your line of work it's pretty much required."

"Maybe," Lenya returned the smile and then turned to watch at the tunnel where that tainted dwarf had most likely gone, "Let's go see what we can find out from that tainted lunatic."

The tainted dwarf had retreated into a some sort of camp. He rambled about them not taking his riches which was laughable. There was nothing but dirt and darkspawn filth around them. They did manage to get something out of him though. Obviously spiders had taken shiny things and things with words to their nest.

"Great, more spiders," Lenya sighed.

"Ruck doesn't go there," The dwarf said, "Crunch your bones!" He added. He was obviously crazy. Then the name hit Lenya and she turned to look at Zevran and Morrigan. They had been with her when she'd spoken with Filda, the old woman who had been praying for her son to return. Zevran nodded at her that he'd noticed it as well.

"So, your name is Ruck?" Lenya asked.

"Yes, Ruck be my name," The dwarf said, looking her with confused and curious eyes.

"When did you come here?" Lenya asked then. She hoped that the answer was not five years. That this miserable thing was not Filda's son.

"Err... me thinks... years. Yes, yes, five time years maybe?" Ruck replied and the heavy lump settled in Lenya's stomach. This was not the news she wanted to bring to the old dwarf. If she would see her son like this...

"How did you survive here?" Leliana asked and there was horror visible in her voice. Horror and sadness.

Ruck turned his eyes on Leliana who flinches back from those black corrupted eyes. She did not blame her. Was this how she would have ended if she'd not become a Grey Warden? - That thought made her shiver. She'd rather be dead than live like this, "When the dark ones were here, I kept to the shadows. They don't look in the shadows, not if you are quiet. Not if you eat their flesh," Ruck said and now there was revulsion on Leliana's face, "Then the dark ones think you are one of them. They leave you alone, but now they're gone." Ruck continued his explanation.

"I think I met your mother. Is her name Filda?" Lenya asked and the change in the dwarf was immediate, "N-n-n-no. No Filda. No mother. No warm blanket and stew and pillows and soft words!" Ruck wailed and shook his head furiously, "Ruck doesn't deserve good memories. No-no-no-no-no..."

"How did you end up here?" Lenya asked gently.

Obviously he'd done something bad and did not want his mother to know about it so he'd came in the Deep Roads, "Once you eat... once you takes in the darkness... you won't miss the light so much," Ruck said and fixed his eyes on hers, "You know, do you not? Ruck sees, yes. He sees the darkness inside you." He added.

"I am a Grey Warden. It's not the same," Lenya said. She did not believe that completely, as she could sense the darkness inside her and inside Alistair. There was a difference though. With her and Alistair the darkness was kept in check.

"Grey like the stone. Guardian against the darkness," Ruck said and she couldn't agree more.

"I promised your mother that I find out what had happen to you," Lenya said, "But seeing you... tainted and sliding into the madness it brings. It would be too cruel to tell her," It seemed too cruel to even leave the miserable thing alive. Life was not worth living like this.

"T-tell the mother Ruck is dead," Ruck said, "He's dead and his bones are rotting in the crawlers webs and she should never look again."

"Yes..." Lenya said and knelt in front of Ruck, "I will do this for you," She said and touched the cheek of the dwarf with her armored hand. Ruck's eyes snapped wide and then a lonely tear appeared in his eyes.

"Grey lady is kind to Ruck," Ruck said and closed his eyes and a smile appeared in his deformed lips.

Slowly Lenya unsheathed her dagger and then with a quick move she drove it to Ruck's heart, killing him instantly. He died with a smile on his face, "May Falon'din guide you to the stone, Ruck," She whispered and gently laid the dead dwarf on the ground, "Shale." She said then.

"It has need of me?" Shale asked.

"I'd appreciated it if you could help me cover his body with rocks," Lenya said.

Shale seemed to think for a moment and then went to pick up some heavier rocks that were lying around the camp.

While Shale brought heavier rocks, she herself piled smaller ones to cover Ruck's body.

* * *

><p>It was like everyone had entered into a trance when Lenya had gently killed the tainted dwarf and now, no one knew what to do. So they all just watched as Lenya and Shale created rock mound over Ruck's body.<p>

When it was done Lenya just thanked Shale and then turned to leave, "We have spiders nest to search," Lenya said before she left the camp.

"Well, that was a sodding waste of time," Oghren said and Leliana felt an urge to hit him.

"If you value your life, you keep your mouth shut, dwarf," Alistair said and turned to look at Oghren. Then he hurried after Lenya. Leliana followed him. Last thing she heard was Oghren muttering to himself about crazy surfacers.

"What do you think that was all about?" Leliana asked from Alistair when she caught up with him.

"Leliana, you know that Lenya did not choose to become a Grey Warden," Alistair replied and she nodded, "She was tainted and the only way to save her was for her to become a Warden."

"Yes, I know that, but what has that..." Leliana started and then she understood. If Lenya had not become a Warden she might have shared the fate of that miserable dwarf she'd just killed.

"Yes, her fate would most likely been similar to that poor creature there or worse," Alistair said, "When she looked at Ruck there. She saw what might have had happen to her."

She searched Lenya and found her standing near one of the ruined houses that stood near one of the bridges that went over the river flowing through the thaig. She was studying something, "She's found something," Leliana pointed at Lenya and Alistair turned to look at the direction she pointed.

They walked to Lenya and saw her touching the wall of the building like she was tracing something with her fingers and when Leliana looked more carefully she saw that, that was exactly what Lenya was doing. There was a writing on the wall.

"What is it?" Leliana asked.

"Don't know, but it... feels important," Lenya said without turning her eyes from the text she was studying, "Oghren." She yelled then.

"Yes, Warden?" Oghren asked and walked to them.

"Can you tell me what does this mean?" Lenya asked and tapped the text on the wall.

Oghren came closer and studied the wall, "It looks like this was the city's archives," He said finally.

"Like place where information about the family lineages were kept?" Lenya asked.

"Yes," Oghren nodded.

"Good," Lenya said and nodded at Shale, "Shale, would you be so kind and open the door?" She asked and pointed at the heavy stone door that was blocking the entrance to the building.

"It has requested lot of things from me lately," Shale said, "I hope it has not gotten in it's head that it owns me. I'd hate to crush its head, but..." It continued, but Lenya interrupted it.

"I have not commanded you to do anything, now have I?" Lenya asked. She sounded a bit annoyed, "I have asked and as of why I've done it a lot lately, it's because you were best suited for the tasks. If you haven't noticed I ask a lot of things from others as well."

"It... it has a point," Shale said and then went to the door. It studied it for a while and then struck it with all its strength. Shale had to hit the door four times until it broke apart.

"Thank you," Lenya said and then stepped inside the building, "Oghren, I need your help in here," They heard her voice say from the inside.

"What can ol' Oghren do to help?" Oghren asked. His voice full of double meanings, "Need some help in greasing the wheel?"

"Oghren," Lenya said and her voice was amused, "Maintaining my wheel is done with a delicate tools not with a hammer."

That made Leliana chuckle and she was not the only one. Zevran laughed behind her and even Alistair was shaking from laughter.

"You just haven't met the Oghren hammer yet," Oghren said when he stepped inside.

"Believe me, I thank the Creators for that," Lenya laughed, "You just have to continue hammering on your own."

"Cruel woman," Leliana heard Oghren mutter and Lenya continued to laugh at him.

Lenya and Oghren were inside the building for a long while and when they got out Lenya was holding a large book in her hands.

"What is that?" Leliana asked.

"Lineages of House Orta," Lenya replied, "There was a young woman in the shaperate who is interested in these," She explained as she placed the book in her backpack, "Shall we go to the spider's nest now?" She asked then.

"Do we have a choice?" Alistair asked.

"No, not really," Lenya said, shaking her head.

"I thought so," Alistair sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>The Deep Roads, Ortan Thaig, spiders nest<strong>

"Ha-have I mentioned that I... I hate spiders," Lenya said. She held her arm and the pain in it made her grimace. The queen spider had tackled her against the rocks and tried to bite her head. She'd shielded her head with her arms and only the quality of the armor had prevented her arms becoming spider food.

"That was incredibly stupid thing to do, young woman," Wynne said and approached her.

"And what exactly, you mean was the stupid thing to do?" Lenya asked while Wynne studied her arm.

"Sticking your arm in the mandibles of the spider like that," Wynne said.

"Would it have been better if I'd let it eat my head?" Lenya asked sarcastically and then winced when Wynne's healing magic mended her arm, "Because, you know that was the only other option."

"I didn't say it wasn't the right thing to do. I just said it was a stupid thing to do," Wynne said, "You got off with remarkably little injuries," She added then.

"Yeah, I was lucky," Lenya nodded, "The stupid thing moved a lot faster than I thought it would. Bloated as it was," She'd tried to get the spider queen's attention so others could finish it while it was fighting her and she'd succeeded, but the damn thing had moved so fast that she had barely had time to react. Her swords had flown from her hands as the spider jumped on her and only thing she had managed to do was to shield her face with her arms. If she'd been alone the spider would have eventually killed her, but luckily for her she had friends with her. Friends who apparently didn't want her to end up as a spider chow, "Did we find what we need?" She asked then.

"Yes," Leliana replied, "Oghren and I found a journal of Branka's."

"And?" Lenya lifted her brows questioningly.

"And he says that we need to continue to the place he calls the Dead Trenches," Leliana explained.

"Bownammar," Lenya sighed. She remembered what Oghren had said about it. Overrun by darkspawn long time ago and now it was filled with them, "Nothing's ever easy," She shook her head and sighed again.

"If it were easy, we would not need people like you to get it done," Wynne said.

"Thank you... I guess," Lenya said and looked at Wynne suspiciously.

"You're welcome young lady," Wynne said.

"I wish you would stop calling me that," Lenya sighed.

"You mean young or a lady?" Wynne asked smiling a little.

"Both," Lenya replied, "I stopped being young long time ago and I certainly aren't a lady."

"Compared to me you are young, but if it makes you uncomfortable then I try not to use it," Wynne said, "But I have to say that you are a very grumpy young lady," She smiled at her.

"You obviously have not seen the fine print on the Grey Warden contract that says 'grumpiness is required'" Lenya said.

"Alistair isn't grumpy," Wynne and Leliana said at the same time.

"Yeah, I know. He's terrible at it, so I have to be doubly grumpy," Lenya said and flexed her hand. It was a bit stiff from the healing, but that would wear off fast, "Shitty job, but someone has to do it," She added and grinned at Alistair.

"What?" Alistair asked curiously.

"Nothing," Lenya replied, still grinning.

"Yeah, sure," Alistair said and obviously did not believe a word she said, "You all are making fun of me, aren't you?"

"No, not all, just me," Lenya replied, "Are we ready to move out from this depressing nest?" She asked.

"Yes," Morrigan replied, "The smelly dwarf found what he was looking for and we did not find much else that has value."

"Alright then," Lenya said, "We leave from here and see if we can find a place to camp and after we've rested a while and had something to eat, we continue to the Dead Trenches. Which, I hear, is a bad place to be and only crazy people try to go there."

"Good thing we have the crazy part covered," Zevran said smiling.

"Yeah, aren't we the lucky ones," Lenya grinned at him, "I don't know about you all, but I've had enough of spider stench, so pick up your gear and lets head out."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's the end of Chapter 19.**

**It's kind of odd that moving from place to place in the deeproads does not feel like a traveling chapter even though it is just that. Perhaps it's the constant danger of darkspawn that does the difference or that Lenya really does not like to be underground.**

**As I said on the start there I will be trying to get back to the weekly updates, but can't promise it.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Chapter 20 is here. Lenya and her companions continue their journey in the deeproads. Still not fully reclaimed my drive to write, but I'm getting there.**

**I wish to thank everyone who's read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted. Very special thanks to those who reviewed. And for Faelan, from the invaluable support and encouragement you've given me. Thank you my friend.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

****Update, March 2014: Fixed grammatical and other errors.****

* * *

><p><strong>Deep Roads, approaching the Dead Trenches<strong>

It had been five days since they had left the Ortan Thaig behind them and the feeling in the taint was growing stronger with every step they took towards the Dead Trenches. Alistair turned to look at Lenya who sat on the other side of the fire.

Lenya's shoulders were hunched down and he could feel the tiredness from her. Neither of them could sleep well anymore. Nightmares were constant now and it was nearly impossible to block them out. Which meant, that they got snapped out of the sleep almost immediately after falling asleep.

Lenya sensed his stare and lifted her eyes from the ground. Her eyes glowed brightly blue now. He knew that she also saw the world through a blue haze. Leliana, who sat beside her, as she always did now, had worried look on her face as she looked at Lenya. They all were worried about Lenya and him. Wynne and Morrigan were using magic on both of them to slow down the tiredness.

"How close are we to the Dead Trenches?" Leliana asked from Oghren, but she did not take her eyes off from Lenya, who was now hanging her head like she'd fallen asleep. Alistair hoped she had. This was worse for her, because her sense of the taint was so much stronger.

"From the markings and the feel I get, I'd say we will arrive there tomorrow," Oghren replied, "It's either that or there is huge sodding cavern here that shouldn't be there," He added and took a gulp from his flask.

"Any idea of what it is that you two are feeling from there?" Leliana asked from him next. As she spoke, Lenya seemed to fall towards her until she was resting against her.

"No idea," Alistair replied and felt a twinge of jealousy as he watched Lenya resting against Leliana. He shook his head to clear those thoughts out of him, "I hope it is just a lot of darkspawn in one place."

"Isn't that a bad thing for us?" Leliana asked, looking puzzled.

"Yes, but the alternative is worse," Alistair nodded, "Archdemon," He added and saw how Leliana paled, but she didn't have time to say anything as Lenya suddenly whimpered softly in her sleep.

"You can hear her in your sleep?" Leliana asked when Lenya was resting silently again.

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "That and we see all sort of nightmarish visions."

"And you can block those out somehow?" Leliana asked.

"Usually yes, but in here... in here it's not so easy. Taint is just everywhere around us and we just can't block it all out," Alistair sighed and then nodded towards Lenya, "It's worse for her. She is more sensitive to it than I am."

"Because she drank that potion Avernus had made?" Leliana asked and stroked Lenya's hair gently. She probably didn't even notice what she was doing.

"That's part of the reason, but it's also because she became a Warden during the Blight," Alistair said, "It's said that it's worse for those who join during the Blight."

"She just can't seem to catch a break," Leliana said and continued to stroke Lenya's hair gently.

"It seems so, but I don't think it was ever planned that all this comes to rest on her shoulders," Alistair said, "No one thought we would be betrayed so thoroughly that only two junior Wardens survive it," He added, his voice bitter, "I don't know where I would be without her," He added and looked sleeping Lenya gratefully.

"I think you would be exactly where you are now," Wynne joined in the conversation.

"Thank you, but that's not true," Alistair shook his head. He was no leader, "I don't have that fire within me, that Lenya has," He continued, "I mean look at us. I doubt that many of us would be working together if it were not for her to keep us doing that. She's taken us all and made us a team."

"There is truth in what you say, but it doesn't mean that you couldn't have done it as well if that had been required from you," Wynne said.

Alistair thought about that, but just couldn't see himself in Lenya's place. There were so many things he would have not done. He doubted that he'd gone and saved the mages in the tower. He would have just followed Greagoir's lead and killed everything in the tower to make it safe. Including Wynne. That was after all what he'd been raised to believe to be his duty. He would have never taken Sten or Shale with him and taking Zevran with him would have been completely out of the question.

Lenya might be the younger Warden, but she was the one, who'd taken what it was to be a Warden, to heart. Whatever it took to stop the darkspawn. He was too stuck in his upbringing to do the same. Because of Lenya, they now had support from, not only from the mages, but from the templars as well.

"No," Alistair said finally, "I would have not," He added, "I would have of course done everything to stop the darkspawn, but I don't think most of you would be here if I would have been leading," He let out a small laugh, "She might complain about the fact that you all wanted to join, but she can see past her own preconceptions and do a decision that is best for everyone. I can't do that. Sten and Shale wouldn't be with us if it had been for me to decide."

"And I doubt you would have spared me," Zevran said and Alistair nodded in agreement.

"No, there is no bloody way I would have taken you with us," Alistair said, "You tried to kill us."

"One little slip up and you're marked for life," Zevran said theatrically and then grinned at him.

"Those decisions don't make you a bad leader," Wynne said.

"Maybe not, but they show that I am not as ready to do whatever it takes to defeat the Blight," He sighed, "And you wouldn't be here either Wynne. If it were not for Lenya, I would have gone with Greagoir's plan to kill everything in the tower so we could be sure no blood mages or abominations escape."

Everyone fell silent after that. Alistair didn't know if they were horrified of what he'd just said and quite frankly he did not care. They all seemed to think that he was something he wasn't. Yes, he could lead when necessary, but to make big decisions like who to support... no, he couldn't see himself doing that. He did feel bad that he'd let Lenya shoulder that burden alone though. She did not deserve that, just because he felt it would be easier to just follow her.

Alistair studied Lenya as she slept, still leaning on Leliana, who absentmindedly stroked her hair. She looked peaceful and a lot younger than she was while awake. He would be there for her from now on - He decided - She shouldn't have to shoulder it all alone.

"Let her sleep as long as she can," Alistair said, "I'll keep watch on the darkspawn."

"Don't overtax yourself though," Leliana said, "She will beat the crap out of you, if you get hurt because you were tired," She added smiling.

"I keep that in mind," Alistair said and returned her smile with his own.

* * *

><p><em>There was a sense of dread all around Lenya, but somehow it couldn't touch her. Something was different. Something was keeping the presence of the archdemon away. She knew that she was not doing it herself. She had not been able to, for days now.<em>

_When she opened her eyes, she was standing in a large cavern somewhere in the Deep Roads. She was alone in there and she knew that the tunnel leading to this cavern was filled with the darkspawn and, that those darkspawn were trying to get to her. Something was blocking them though._

_She could see a lone figure standing in front of the tunnel entrance. It was keeping the darkspawn from entering. As she watched the lone figure, it destroyed few darkspawn who tried to enter. It was firing arrows made out of pure light to the spawn, making them explode._

"_How odd," Lenya muttered and started to walk towards the figure._

_When she approached the figure it continued to destroy darkspawn that tried to enter the cavern. She also could make out the figure better. __It was a woman, too tall to be an elven woman, so it had to be a human.__She was wearing leather armor favored by rogues, but it was a leather armor, like Lenya had never seen before. For once, it was pure white and seemed to radiate light._

"_I must be losing my mind to conjure something like that into my dreams," Lenya muttered and that made the human woman laugh amusingly._

_She knew that laugh. It had been appearing in her dreams often lately, but never, ever it had been in the nightmares caused by the taint._

"_You're not losing your mind, lethallan," The woman said and turned to look at her._

"_Leliana?" Lenya asked and the woman laughed at her again._

"_Who did you expect, lethallan?" Leliana asked and shot another volley to the spawn._

"_No one actually," Lenya replied and stepped closer to Leliana. While wearing that radiant white armor, she was stunningly beautiful._

_Leliana seemed to sense her as she stepped closer and she fired one last arrow to the tunnel, collapsing it and sealing the two of them inside the cavern. Being trapped in this cave with her didn't feel a bad thing though._

_Lenya took another step closer to Leliana and lifted her hand to touch her cheek. Leliana's cheek was soft and warm. As she caressed Leliana's cheek her eyes focused on her lips. They looked rather inviting and when Leliana licked her lips, Lenya got irresistible urge to kiss her and she started to lean forward to do just that..._

… and then she opened her eyes. Startled she blinked her eyes multiple times. Had she just dreamed of kissing Leliana, in the middle of the taint nightmare, no less? - Lenya thought and looked around.

Only then she noticed that she was not in her bedroll. Instead of that, she had been leaning on Leliana while she slept.

"Sorry," Leliana said, "I didn't mean to wake you, but I was trying to change my position a bit. My leg is getting numb."

"Your leg is getting numb?" Lenya muttered, not quite understanding what Leliana was saying, "How long have I been sleeping?" She asked then.

"Little over three hours." Leliana replied.

"Three hours!" She exhaled in disbelief, "Why didn't you just wake me and tell me to go to my bedroll?"

"I didn't want to wake you. You looked so peaceful, that it would have been criminal to wake you up," Leliana replied and then she blushed a little, "And it wasn't unpleasant to have you leaning on me."

Now it was Lenya's turn to blush. She remembered the dream and the feelings she'd had in it, all too clearly. No wonder she'd dreamed of Leliana, when she'd practically been breathing her scent for hours and sensing her body against her own - She stopped her thoughts at that. She refused to let her mind go there when she was awake. Unfortunately her mind had plans of its own and the bloody thing had joined up with her imagination and it offered her a plenty of images of Leliana's body against her own.

Lenya stood up and avoided looking at Leliana and she could swear that she sensed Leliana smiling at her. She was definitely amused, "Where's Alistair?" Lenya asked, trying to ignore what her imagination was trying to feed her.

"He's been keeping watch while you slept. Zevran is keeping him company," Leliana replied.

"I'll go tell him that he can go to sleep," Lenya said and started to leave, but before she'd taken two steps, she turned to look at Leliana, "Ma serannas, Lethallan."

Leliana just smiled at her, which made Lenya's stomach flutter, "Creators," She muttered as she left the campsite and followed Alistair's feeling in the taint.

"Did you have a nice sleep, my dear warden?" Zevran asked when Lenya approaches him and Alistair. His voice was amused and he was grinning.

Lenya resisted the urge to tell him to go to hell. That would just make him worse, "Quite good, thank you," She said with as neutral tone as she could manage.

"I bet," Zevran said, "Leaning against that sweet woman like that. Breathing in her scent and feeling the heat of her body against your own," He continued, keeping his gaze on Lenya's face. Creators take the bloody man, his words echoed all too closely her own thoughts.

"Would you stop that," Alistair said. Probably saving Lenya from further embarrassment, because she could feel that the blush wasn't far away, "You look better," He then said. She felt better, but the same couldn't be said about Alistair. He looked dead tired.

"And you look like hell," Lenya smiled at him, "Go to sleep. I'll take the watch from now."

"I can come stroke your hair while you sleep," Zevran suggested Alistair in flirty tones.

"Thank you for the offer, but I think I can manage without that," Alistair said and he wasn't even slightly uneasy about Zevran's flirts. Lenya was impressed about that, "How long do I have?" He asked from her.

"You can safely sleep for few hours. If you can that is," Lenya replied. It was pure miracle that she'd been able to sleep more than an hour - Miracle? Is that what you call Leliana? - small voice in Lenya's head said to her, - Shut up! - She thought at the voice.

"You look a bit lost, my dear warden," Zevran said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Lenya lifted her eyes to him and noticed that Alistair had left already. No wonder Zevran thought she was lost if she could miss things like that.

"Lost?" She said, "No, I'm not lost. I'm just a bit confused."

"I've noticed that thinking of beautiful and dangerous women can do that," Zevran said smiling.

"They certainly can," Lenya nodded and smiled a little.

"I know what you need," Zevran said.

"You do now?" Lenya asked, amused.

"Most definitely," Zevran replied, "You need a massage with scented oils and salves."

"And I suppose that you have these oils and can offer your services to me," Lenya smiled at him.

"As it happen I do have them," Zevran grinned at her.

"What a coincident," Lenya grinned back at him, "I do appreciate the offer, but I have to decline."

"I'm devastated," Zevran smiled at her, "If you at some point happen to find a need for such oils and salves, I will be more than happy to loan them," He then added, "I will go to sleep now as well. I'll send someone here to keep you company."

"Thank you, Zevran," Lenya said, "For everything."

"My pleasure, my dear Warden," Zevran bowed and then he left.

Soon Morrigan came to keep her company. Which mostly meant that they just stood there in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Deep Roads, The Dead Trenches<strong>

Next day they arrived to the Dead Trenches. Lenya could feel an enormous concentration of the taint ahead of them. She could also hear the song of the archdemon. It made her teeth ache and she had to fight against the urge to just follow the damn voice. A brief look at Alistair told her that he had similar difficulties.

"We are here," Oghren said, "That chasm there is what gave the place it's name after darkspawn had driven the dwarves out from here," He pointed at the huge chasm that ran through the whole cavern.

"There... there is... darkspawn down there," Lenya managed to say. Feeling of the taint she got from the chasm was overpowering. She felt like there was a pressure over her chest and it was making breathing difficult.

"Dear Maker!" Lenya heard Wynne say when looked over the edge and into the chasm, "There's so many of them."

"They are... waiting for something," Lenya said breathing heavily. That was pretty much all she could get out of the taint at the moment.

"Something is... coming closer," Alistair said and rubbed his eyes.

"What is it?" Leliana asked from behind them.

"Arch..." Lenya started, but was interrupted by a roar that shook the whole cavern. Then, like out of nowhere, the archdemon flew out of the chasm and landed on the large stone bridge that went over the chasm.

When it roared, Lenya felt like her head was splitting open and she fell onto her knees. The taint within her seemed to roar in response to the archdemons presence and she felt like it could drown her. There was also a compulsion to go and join to the darkspawn and raze Ferelden to the ground.

Then the presence seemed to lessen and she could open her eyes. First thing she saw was Leliana's worried eyes looking at her.

"Are you alright?" Leliana asked.

"No..." Lenya started and with the help of Leliana, she stood up, "I'm not alright," She shook her head. Trying to get the images of burning and tainting the lands out of her mind.

"What happen?" Leliana asked, "You fell to the ground holding your head and Alistair is pale as a ghost."

"Archdemons call," Lenya said, "It was nearly overwhelming. Together with the thousands of darkspawn down there it was too much for me. I've never felt that many at the same time," She added and turned to look at Alistair, who really did look like a ghost, "Why didn't you warn me that this could happen, when I sense a lot of darkspawn?"

"I didn't know," Alistair replied and he looked miserable, "I've felt a lot of darkspawn before, but never like this. It's never affected me this strongly either."

"You think it was the archdemons presence, that made it stronger?" Lenya wanted to know.

"I can't think of anything else that could have caused it," Alistair said.

"How are we supposed to kill that thing, when her mere presence causes me to completely lose my ability to fight and I don't think you are in any better shape for fighting her either," Lenya said.

"I think it was because we didn't expect to see it here, that made its presence stronger," Alistair said, "If we are prepared to meet with it I believe we can block its influence out."

"You believe or hope?" Lenya asked and looked at the chasm where the darkspawn horde was now moving. It was clear that the archdemon had put the horde on the move. She would bet everything she owned, that the horde was heading to the Wilds. How long before the archdemon was ready to start a full scale advance at the surface?

"Little bit of both," Alistair said, "I believe that, because it makes sense, that we would be able to block it out and fight it properly. This isn't the first Blight after all and Wardens did stop the last four and I don't think they could have done that, without fighting the archdemon."

"And why do you hope it then?" Leliana asked.

"Because we are so new Wardens. I've been one for seven or eight months and Lenya has been one only few months," Alistair replied.

"Lets hope that you are right then," Lenya said, "I do know now, how she feels, so that should help on blocking her influence out and it also should help that I know what to expect."

"Her?" Alistair lifted his brows, "You think it's a woman?"

"Yes, it looks like a high dragon and those are all females and I keep getting this feeling that it is a female," Lenya shrugged.

"I don't want to interrupt your important Warden business, but I hear sounds of fighting," Zevran interrupted their conversation before Alistair could say anything.

Lenya lifted her head and listened. It didn't take long for her to hear the sounds of battle, "Lets go see who is making all that noise," She decided and without further delay she headed towards the fight.

* * *

><p>Leliana was certain, that she would never be able to watch Lenya kill an ogre by jumping towards it and impaling it with her sword. Granted, that this ogre didn't even have hands anymore, when she finished it off, but it really didn't look safe for her to just jump on them.<p>

As she watched, Lenya pulled her sword from the dead ogres head and jumped off from the body. Fighting had been intense and Leliana had lost the count of how many darkspawn they killed while they had crossed the bridge over the chasm.

"Bloody dwarves," Leliana heard Lenya curse, "They could have followed us over the damn bridge and lend a hand."

"They might be the Legion of the Dead, but they are not stupidly suicidal," Oghren said.

"Are you calling me stupid and suicidal?" Lenya asked and gave Oghren a level look.

"No, I think you are sodding crazy," Oghren replied, "Which is just perfect."

Lenya laughed at him, "Well, it wasn't much of an fight. We killed..." She started and turned to look back at the bridge. It was littered with the bodies of the darkspawn, "Hmm..." She said and turned to look at them, "Did anyone count them?"

"You didn't say that we need to count them as well," Morrigan said.

"Well, duh!" Lenya snorted and then grinned at Morrigan, "How else you can keep score of who has killed the most of them," Then she wiped her forehead with her hand. Which, instead of cleaning it, just spread the darkspawn blood over her face. She studied her hand for a moment and sighed, "I guess finding clean water from here is out of the question."

"I wouldn't put much hope for that," Leliana smiled at Lenya.

"Lenya," Alistair said and nodded towards the bridge where the dwarves were now crossing it.

"How lovely of them to just wait until we killed the darkspawn," Lenya turned to face the dwarves and crossed her arms in front of her, "Be ready to continue as soon as I'm done with the dwarves," She said before turning her full attention to the dwarves.

They all just nodded to her, even though she wasn't watching them anymore. Wynne started to go through them all, checking for wounds. After Wynne had checked her, Leliana left to check the bodies of the darkspawn. She would need to gather all the arrows that weren't broken or she would run out of them before they were out of the Deep Roads.

Lenya was almost done with her task when the dwarves turned around and left back over the bridge.

"Are you ready, lethallan?" Lenya asked from her.

"Nearly," Leliana replied and examined an arrow, which she'd pulled out of a genlock. She had to be careful with the used arrows. She trusted the potion they took to prevent the tainting, but it didn't hurt to be careful and avoid unnecessary exposure to it.

"How long does your arrows last?" Lenya asked and turned a dead shriek over with her foot. It had an arrow buried in its eye. Its shaft was broken though and there was no use of pulling it out.

"If I am lucky and I can gather this many arrows back after every fight they will last long enough," Leliana replied, "If I am not lucky then I will run out of them sooner."

"I may have a solution to that, but it's not without its drawbacks," Lenya said and walked to one of the genlock archers she'd killed. She flipped the body to its stomach and cut the crude quiver off from its back, "These are lot more tainted, than those used arrows of yours and I wouldn't handle them with bare hands or let them touch your skin anywhere else either, but they are working arrows and if you are careful with them you can use them."

Leliana stared at the quiver Lenya was holding in her hands. Her reasoning was sound, but the quiver gave her the shivers. She knew, that unless it was absolutely necessary, she would not touch those arrows. What she didn't like, was that she felt like she was letting Lenya down somehow.

"I won't force you to use them, lethallan," Lenya said, as if she'd read her mind, "I will not demand anything from you that you are not comfortable of doing. These arrows are an option, nothing more and if you don't want to use them it's alright."

"We should take them with us. If it seems that my own arrows are not enough," Leliana decided and Lenya nodded.

"Everyone ready to move on?" Lenya asked then and everyone acknowledged their readiness.

* * *

><p>"I don't want to know how many spawns would be here if the archdemon had not called them away," Lenya said when they had killed yet another group of darkspawn. This group had been guarding some sort of crude forge. One of the darkspawn had been very skilled fighter and it had even given Lenya herself a momentary pause, before she had severed its head.<p>

"Multiply these by ten or more," Oghren said, "Or that's what the sodding Legion claims anyway."

"Sounds wonderful," Alistair said and helped Leliana gather her arrows back.

"There is one more piece for the Legion armor in here," Zevran informed when he stepped out of the smaller room that most likely was a burial chamber or something. Why had the dwarves of old scattered the armor like that was odd. All of them also came with a piece of the journal.

"Take it with us," Lenya said and Zevran nodded. It was weird that the armor seemed to be completely taint free, even though it had been exposed to it for decades. It had to have something to do with the runes embedded to it. She would need to ask Sandal about those when they got back to the surface, "Everyone ready to move out?" She asked then and got multiple nods as her answer.

* * *

><p>"<em>First day, they come and catch everyone,"<em> A woman's voice echoed through the cavern walls.

"What or who was that?" Leliana asked from Lenya who had stopped the moment the voice started to hear.

"I don't know, Leliana," Lenya replied and then motioned them to keep moving.

As they continued to walk forward they heard more and more. It sounded like the mystery woman was reciting some horrible poem.

"I don't know about you, but that damn voice is starting to creep me out," Lenya said when the woman had started the poem from the beginning again. Leliana had to agree with her. Rest of their group seemed to also agree with Lenya.

"I think the owner of that voice is just ahead," Zevran said and they turned to look at the way they were going. He was right. The sound of the woman's voice was not echoing anymore.

When they got closer, the woman kept chanting the horrible poem like it was the only thing that mattered to her.

"_First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat._

_Third day, the men are all gnawed on again. Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate._

_Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams._

_Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew. Eighth day, we hate it as she is violated._

_Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin. Now she does feast, as she's become the beast."_

Then they saw her. A dwarf woman hunching over the piles of the dead. Leliana heard Lenya curse and mutter to herself, "She's so far gone, but not like Ruck. What's different?" It was quite eerie how Lenya and Alistair spoke about the taint. Eerie and often quite creepy.

"I don't know," Alistair said.

Then the woman turned around and stared at Lenya, "What is this? An elf? Exotic and impossible," The woman said confused.

Lenya seemed to study the woman and then glanced at Alistair who shook his head so slightly it was barely noticeable. There was nothing they could do to help.

"First day, they come and catch everyone," The dwarf woman said starting her poem again.

"It does feel like darkspawn corruption, but then again it doesn't," Lenya said puzzled.

"Corruption! The men did that!" The dwarf said suddenly, "Their wounds festered and their minds left. They are like dogs, marched ahead, the first to die," She continued and then almost frantically shook her head, "Not us. Not me. Not Laryn. We are not cut. We are fed. Friends and flesh and blood and bile and... and..."

Horror started to settle in Leliana's stomach as she listened the dwarf. Men had died, but women were spared and fed... things. She turned to look at Lenya who was pale. She had noticed the same and suddenly the interest darkspawn had given to her and Morrigan started to seem a lot more than just a random thing. It didn't tell them, for what did the darkspawn need women though. Her mind started to give her possible answers and she really did wish it wouldn't.

"You've been forced to eat your kin?" Alistair asked. He looked like he was about to get sick. Leliana didn't blame him.

"And others. Fresh, not those who turn. Killed right here. We're fed. Laryn first, but I am filled. I am..." The dwarf woman said. Turned to what - Leliana thought as she listened the dwarf speaking, "All I could do was wish that Laryn went first. I wished it upon her so I would be spared," The dwarf continued, "But I had to watch. I had to see the change. How do you endure that? How did Branka endure?"

"What did she say about Branka?" Oghren asked and shoved Leliana and Zevran aside, so he could see the dwarf, "Hespith?" He breathed out when he saw the woman, "Where's Branka, Hespith?"

"D-do not talk about Branka, of what she did. Ancestors preserve us, forgive me. I was her captain and I didn't stop her," The dwarf, Hespith, said without turning to look at Oghren, who looked like he was about to explode. Lenya only lifted her hand and Oghren stayed quiet. It was rather impressive, "Her lover and I could not turn her. Forgive her... but no, she cannot be forgiven. Not for what she did. Not for what she has become," When Hespith mentioned the lover part Leliana had to look at Oghren. His face was really comical and she would have laughed if the situation had not been so grim. She was not the only one to glance at Oghren. Lenya and Alistair did as well. Zevran was grinning behind Oghren.

"What did she do, Hespith? What did Branka do?" Lenya asked.

"I will not speak of her! Of what she did, of what we have become! I will not turn!" Hespith said adamantly and then she bolted up and ran away.

"Stop her!" Lenya ordered, but it was too late. Hespith was already out of the room and then she disappeared. Lenya cursed, "After her, but be careful. I sense at least two ogres nearby and something else. Something I've not felt before."

"I sense it too and don't know anything about it either," Alistair said.

"We have to find out why the darkspawn are interested in women. Young women to be precise," Lenya said and then turned to look at her and then Morrigan, "Stay in the middle. I will not lose you to those things," She ordered firmly. Lenya looked her in the eyes when she spoke. Worry was clearly visible in Lenya's eyes.

"As you say, Lenya," Morrigan nodded and it was so unusual for her to comply so easily, that Leliana had to turn and look at the witch. She was pale and there was fear in her eyes. She tried to hide it, but seeing Hespith and listening her, had shaken her more than she was ready to admit.

* * *

><p>Following Hespith was not easy. She just vanished in the thin air or at least it seemed like that. They did hear her speaking to them from time to time. Giving out grim details how the darkspawn had killed all the men outright, but spared the women. Then the spawn had started to feed the women with their kin and by darkspawn vomit or something like that. And somehow Branka was center of this. Her obsession to anvil had made this possible.<p>

"Anyone else noticed that the walls are now covered with something living," Zevran said.

"We've noticed," Lenya replied, "Those things look quite a lot like the stuff in the circle tower, but from these I can sense darkspawn. Genlocks if I'm not mistaken."

"Wait a minute, Lenya," Alistair said, "You can sense genlocks inside those things?" He asked and pointed one of the bulbous masses that seemed to pulsate slightly.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "Something is creating genlocks inside those things," She added and sliced one of the bulbs open. Something that vaguely looked like a genlock burst open and writhed on the ground until she killed it.

"They made her in their image. Then she made more of them," Leliana whispered what Hespith had said last.

Like Leliana's words had summoned Hespith back, they heard her say one more word, "Broodmother."

"That doesn't sound nice," Zevran said.

"No, it doesn't," Lenya agreed, "Be ready for anything."

Soon the tunnel they were in turned left and when she stepped around the corner she saw something, that would haunt in her dreams for days. Bloated pink mass that was surrounded by waving tentacles of some kind. It had to be the broodmother, Hespith had mentioned. It was clearly a female, "By the Creators," She muttered and unsheathed her swords.

"That's a lot of nipples," Lenya heard Oghren mutter behind her.

The thing screamed then and few tentacles shot out of the ground and started to attack them. Lenya dodged the attack and glanced at the ground. It was not rock, but something fleshy. She ducked under the swing of the tentacle and sliced it in half making the broodmother scream in pain or in rage. Probably both.

"It can feel the hits on the tentacles so hack them to pieces when they shoot out of the ground," Lenya yelled and headed towards the broodmother and got hit in the chest by something green, "Ugh, it spits poison or something."

"Try not to get that stuff in your face," Alistair muttered as they advanced towards the broodmother. He shielded his face with his shield.

"And here I was going to just wait until it spits me again," Lenya said and sliced another tentacle in half. This time the scream was different. It had a messages in it, "It is calling for help," She said and only barely avoided another tentacle, that tried to grab her, "Sten and Oghren, keep the reinforcements away from the mages and Leliana. Zevran and Shale concentrate on the damn tentacles. Morrigan and Leliana shoot the broodmother," She yelled her orders.

"Watch out!" Alistair yelled a warning, but he was a moment too late and a tentacle wrapped around her waist and lifted Lenya up in the air. It brought her face to face with the broodmother and then the blasted thing vomited on her.

The foul liquid smelled horrible, but it didn't do anything to her. It didn't even burn her skin. It seemed that the Grey Warden immunity applied on the broodmother vomit as well. Before she had time to think it more, the tentacle threw her away and the impact with the ground knocked the wind out of her. She saw arrows sticking from the tentacle that had held her. There was no question of who had saved her.

"Are you alright," Zevran asked and shielded her from the other tentacle.

"Yes, just out of breath," Lenya replied and got up, "This ends now," She said and her field of vision flashed with blue glow. She was getting used to it so it didn't hinder her sight at all anymore. It was still odd how the glow responded her moods though, "Keep them away from me," She ordered Zevran who nodded.

Lenya dodged another tentacle and sliced it with her swords, as she came out of the dodge. She didn't stay and finish it though. She trusted Zevran to do that. Stopping only for a second, she studied the situation and then sprung towards the broodmother. It tried to hit her with the tentacles, but she could avoid them and even used them to increase her speed as she ran up the creatures body and jumped on top of it.

Avoiding the flailing tentacles Lenya positioned herself over the head of the thing and buried her sword at its neck. The broodmother screamed in rage and the flailing of the tentacles got more intense. Still avoiding them she pulled the sword out of the creature and then sliced its head with both of her swords. Blood flew from the creature, covering Lenya completely in the vile stuff.

The Broodmother trashed in its death throes and tried to throw her off from its back. Lenya refused to be thrown anywhere and held onto the thing until it stopped moving. Only then she pulled her swords free and jumped down.

"Someday you will cause me a heart attack," Alistair said, but before she had time to say anything back, they heard Hespith's voice again.

"That's where they come from. That's why they hate us... that's why they need us. That's why they take us... that's why they feed us," Hespith said and after a brief pause continued, "But the true abomination... is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed. Branka... my love... The Stone has punished me, dream friend. I am dying of something worse than death," She continued. She was standing above the room in a ledge, "Betrayal," After that Hespith jumped off from the ledge and into the chasm.

When Lenya heard the thud telling her that Hespith had hit the bottom of the chasm she whispered, "Falon'Din guide you to the stone," She would make those responsible for this abomination pay, "Burn it," She commanded Morrigan. Who didn't even hesitate before she set the broodmother in flames. She was unusually pale. It couldn't be easy, to find out, that if she was captured, this would be her fate. She could try and pretend that she was not afraid of anything, but the slightly haunted look in her face betrayed her.

Lenya turned to look at Leliana. She was standing still and stared at the place where Hespith had jumped down. Tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Are you alright, lethallan?" Lenya asked. She would have wanted to comfort Leliana somehow, maybe give her a hug, but she also knew, that she was almost completely covered in broodmother vomit and darkspawn blood. She didn't want to expose her on that stuff. It was bad enough that they would need to suffer the smell of her until she could find water to wash most of it away.

"What... what happen here is horrible," Leliana said, "Those poor women... forced to this and for what? Why would someone do something like this to her own lover?"

"I don't know, lethallan," Lenya replied, "But I swear to you that I won't let this continue."

"But you need her for the election," Leliana said, "To get the troops you need."

"No," Lenya shook her head, "If she is behind this and it looks like she is, there is nothing that can stop me from stopping her. Nothing is worth it to let a monster like this live," She knew that her eyes had started to glow brighter, but she couldn't help it.

Leliana stared at her for a long while without saying anything and when she spoke, her voice was a barely louder than a whisper, "If I... I get... tainted..." Leliana tried to say, "Will you...?"

"I will not let you become like that," Lenya said. Mere thought of what she was about to say next made a lump rise in her throat, but she'd promised this to all of her companions in Honnleath. Even if the situation had changed since then and she actually liked them now and in case of Leliana it went beyond mere liking, "If you will get tainted, I will end your life," She said in steady voice. Image of Merrill dying in her arms in the beyond appeared in her mind and she hoped she would not have to fulfill this promise.

"Thank you, lethallan," Leliana said and made a move to hug her, but Lenya lifted her hand to stop her. She saw hurt in Leliana's eyes from the rejection.

"I'm sorry, but I'm covered in broodmother vomit and a darkspawn blood and I wouldn't want this stuff on you," Lenya quickly explained.

"Oh..." Leliana said, "I didn't notice that," She blushed.

"How can you not notice this?" Lenya asked incredulously, "I smell horrible and probably look horrible as well."

"Well..." Leliana said, "Now that you mention it..." She smiled a little.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lenya grinned at her and then turned to look at Oghren who had been oddly quiet, "Do you know where we need to go now?" She asked.

"There is a tunnel here that seems to lead to the Anvil of the Void," Oghren replied, "From the markings it's not further than a half a day journey.

"Okay, if everyone is alright, then gather your stuff. We are moving on," Lenya ordered, "And the one who finds enough clean water for me to wash myself gets a cookie."

Lenya was last to leave the chamber. Before leaving she turned to look at the place where the broodmother had been. Would that had been her fate if Duncan had not been there to recruit her? Whole thought made her shudder.

"Falon'Din guide you to the stone, Laryn. You will be avenged," Lenya said and then turned her back to the place.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Chapter 20. Not out of the Deep Roads yet, but well over halfway I think. Hopefully the party doesn't decide to go sightseeing or something.**

**In game the effects of the taint in the wardens are not discussed much. It is said, that it is worse for those who join during the blight, but that is it. Lenya and Alistair are both quite new Wardens after all and Lenya did go and drank that potion at the Soldiers Peak. And they haven't been in the presence of such overwhelming numbers of darkspawn and more importantly in the presence of archdemon before. So I wanted to explore that a bit more. How a lot of darkspawn might affect them and things like that.**

**I hope you've enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Chapter 21 is ready and we are closing in the Anvil of the Void.**

**I wish to thank everyone who has read this far. Special thanks to those who fav/alerted and extra special thanks to those who reviewed. And my eternal gratitude goes to Faelan, your support and encouragement is invaluable to me as I write this.**

**Huge thanks to Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware. Everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

**Update, March 2014: Fixed grammatical and other errors.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Deep Roads, approaching the Anvil of the Void<strong>

Everyone had been really quiet after the meeting with the broodmother. No one was eager to talk about what had happened in there. Everyone was thinking about it though. Lenya had noticed more than one wondering look thrown at her. They all were wondering what she would do to Branka.

Another effect the broodmother had on their group was that Morrigan was now staying closer to Alistair for protection. Lenya was sure Morrigan would have rather be close to her, but Leliana had already taken that place. Leliana was never far from her and Lenya didn't mind that at all. Leliana's presence had a calming effect on her and it made the taint less threatening to her.

"We are getting close, Warden," Oghren said to her, bringing Lenya back to the present from her thoughts.

"You sure?" Lenya asked, "Everything looks same to me."

Oghren rolled his eyes and dug a flask from his armor. He took a big gulp from it and then put it back, "Are you sodding blind Warden?" He asked then.

"Nope, I just don't give a damn about the tunnels and I really don't want to be here in the first place," Lenya replied, "I don't even know if I could find my way back out from here, but I can tell you that there's many darkspawn in that direction."

"That's sodding great," Oghren said, "Branka seems to be keeping very bad company," He murmured to himself. That obviously was not meant for anyone else.

"Take us there," Lenya said and nodded at the direction where they were going.

It took another hour before Oghren said they were approaching a larger cavern and that he saw Branka's markings in the walls.

The feeling of darkspawn was still strong ahead of them so they stepped in the larger cavern weapons in hand. Nothing attacked them though so they walked further in. When Shale, who had been holding the rear, stepped inside the cavern, something dropped down and blocked the way out.

"Now that's just great," Lenya cursed.

"What was that?" Oghren asked from her. Then they heard someone moving nearby and turned to look at the direction where the sound was coming. A dwarf woman walked in view at the nearby ledge, "Shave my back and call me an elf! Branka? By the stone, I barely recognize you," Oghren yelped happily.

Lenya studied the woman and a shiver ran through her. There was something so wrong with that woman. Her eyes had that mad gleam, Lenya had seen in the eyes of the possessed men in the circle tower.

"Oghren. It figures you'd eventually find your way here. Hopefully you can find your way back more easily," Branka said and there was a contempt in her voice. Then Branka turned to look at Lenya as she quietly studied her, "And how shall I address you? Hired sword of the latest lordling to come looking for me? Or just the only one who didn't mind Oghren's ale-breath?" Branka asked.

Lenya heard how Alistair started to move. He was obviously going to come to her defense, but Oghren was faster, "Be respectful, woman! You're talking to a Grey Warden!" He snapped at Branka.

"Ah, so important errand girl, then. I suppose something serious has happened. Is Endrin dead? That seems most likely. He was on the old and wheezy side," Branka said and started to pace back and forth.

"He is dead, yes, and the assembly is deadlocked," Lenya said, her eyes never leaving from Branka's. That mad gleam never left Branka's eyes.

"Then what is your involvement in this? Why would surfacer be interested in dwarven politics?" Branka asked, but before Lenya had time to say anything Branka continued, "You must have a patron. A highly-placed patron. And they must want something in particular. Now, what might that be?" And again Lenya couldn't get a word through because Branka just continued to talk to herself, "I don't care if they put a drunken monkey on the throne."

"Me neither," Lenya said, but Branka wasn't listening anyone else, but herself.

"Because our protector, our great invention, the thing that once made our armies the envy of the world, is lost to the very darkspawn it should be fighting," Branka preached. It was debatable if she even knew she wasn't alone anymore, "The Anvil of the Void. The means by which the ancients forged their army of golems and held of the first archdemon ever to rise. It's here. So close I can taste it."

"But of course there is a catch," Lenya said and studied the area. There was no way up, where Branka was and she would be able to dodge or block thrown dagger and if she would try to get a bow she would just go out of sight.

"The Anvil lies on the other side of the gauntlet of traps designed by Caridin himself. My people have given body and soul to unlocking its secret," Branka said. Her people had given more than that. Bloody bastard – Lenya thought, "This is what's important. This has lasting meaning. If I succeed, the dwarven people benefit. Kings, politics... all that is transitory," Branka continued, "I've given up everything and would sacrifice anything to get the Anvil of the Void," She said and that made Lenya's field of vision get engulfed by a blue glow. She had sacrificed? Did Branka really say she had sacrificed? - Lenya thought and tried to fight the urge to throw a dagger to the damn dwarf regardless of how futile it would be.

"Does that include Hespith and the others of your house?" Alistair asked. He probably sensed that she was not capable of speaking at the moment.

"Enough questions!" Was the only thing Branka said. That was as good as confessing. Branka was so bloody dead when Lenya could get her hands on her, "If you wish me to get involved with this imbecilic election, I must first have the Anvil," Branka continued, "There is only one way out, Warden. Forward. Through Caridin's maze and out to where the Anvil waits," She added.

"What has this place done to you?!" Oghren asked, his voice puzzled and angry, "I remember marrying a girl you could talk to a one minute and see the brilliance."

"I am your Paragon," Branka said and left.

* * *

><p>"Ok, we've been locked in this damn death trap by insane dwarf," Lenya said, "At the moment it looks like the only way out would be through this damn place so we better get started. The sooner we are through the sooner we can settle things with Branka. Move out," She ordered.<p>

As they started to clear the maze from traps and from darkspawn, they heard Branka speaking. How she had known her people were getting tainted and how they wanted to leave. She'd known what would happen to the women and as Hespith had said, Branka had allowed it to happen and even made it happen.

"I wonder if she knows, that she is digging her own grave there," Zevran said to Leliana and nodded towards the place where Branka was standing. Lenya had ordered Zevran to defend her and the mages.

"I don't know," Leliana said and released an arrow to the hurlock that was trying to attack Lenya, "There is no way Lenya will let her live. Not after what she's done and no matter how important Paragon would be to her."

"Luckily for us, Bhelen did say, that if Branka is not all there, it's better that she won't return to Orzammar," Zerran said and turned to look at Lenya who was again fighting like she was possessed. Her arms were only a blur and it was near impossible to see the blades of her swords, "Is it just me or is our gorgeous leader a bit pissed?" Zevran asked then.

"Where did you get the bit part?" Leliana asked and looked at Lenya who just brought down the last darkspawn in sight, another ogre. This time she just sliced the legs under the huge creature and when it fell down she impaled its head with her sword. After that Lenya lifted her head and seemed to listen. Leliana noticed that Alistair was doing the same.

Then Lenya motioned them to come closer, "There is no more darkspawn ahead," She said when they got to her, "So only thing to worry about is the traps Caridin has set up to protect the Anvil."

"I should walk with you then," Leliana said and Lenya nodded, "Everyone keep your eyes open for anything that seems out of the ordinary," Leliana told them.

"Ordinary compared to what?" Lenya asked, studying their surroundings, "This whole damn place looks out of the ordinary to me."

"Tiles that seem to stick out of the ground and stuff like that," Leliana replied, hiding her smile, "You know, the usual stuff you don't notice," She added. It was not true, but she couldn't resist saying it. Even though Lenya was a warrior, she noticed things like traps and things that were hidden. It had to be a dalish thing, since Alistair, who didn't notice most of the things, was pretty much what Leliana had learned to expect from the warriors. Sten was a bit better at noticing things than Alistair, but not much and Oghren did not notice anything if it wasn't drinkable or a woman. She was amazed of how Oghren could guide them with his stone sense when he didn't notice a trap if he stepped on it. Only because of Lenya, he didn't have an arrow in his backside.

"Oh, you mean the normal out of the ordinary stuff," Lenya said, "Not the glowing stuff in the walls or the caverns, that could house my whole clan with room to spare?"

"No, not those things," Leliana smiled at Lenya.

"Okay then, I know what to look for," Lenya said and motioned others to follow them before she turned to lead them further in the maze.

Few hours and dozens of traps and obstacles later they seemed to be clear of the maze protecting the Anvil. Last obstacle with the rotating head had been grueling. Not to mention the room with the poison gas. Without Shale, who had gone in and shut the gas flow, they would have most likely died in that one or at least got stuck there, until Lenya would have gone back and tried to find a way to kill Branka.

What had not changed was the fact that Lenya was furious. She had been muttering curses towards the dwarf Paragon every time they had been stopped by traps, golems or other deadly obstructions. She was not the only one, but she was the one who eventually would determine the fate of the woman and Branka's chances to live through this had already been less than minimal.

Leliana glanced at Lenya who walked beside her. Her armor was full of dents and scrapes, but it was intact. True testament to the skill of the smith who had originally made the set centuries ago. Other warriors had not fared quite as well and their armors were a bit poorer condition than Lenya's armor was.

"There is very large cavern ahead," Oghren said behind them, "No other ways out of there than this."

"So your wife lied that the way out went through here," Morrigan said sarcastically, "What a surprise," She leaned heavily on her staff. Both she and Wynne were exhausted from all the magic they have had to use. They would need to rest soon.

"Let's go see what this Anvil really is," Lenya said, "We'll deal Branka when the time comes," She added and there was coldness in her voice when she said that.

When they started to move again she heard Oghren mutter something that sounded like, "Sodding woman, what have you done?"

* * *

><p><strong>The Anvil of the Void<strong>

The cavern they now entered had lyrium veins running at its walls and a molten lava running somewhere below them. Lenya could see the red glow of it. Oghren had been right and there really was no other way out of this cavern than from where they had come in.

Nothing in cavern itself could distract Lenya from the fact that there were golems standing on both sides of them and one larger than others standing ahead of them. It was like the golems on the side formed a corridor that lead to a larger one, but unlike the others they had encountered in the maze, these were not hostile.

When they approached the largest of the golems it moved its head to look at Lenya, "My name is Caridin," The golem said, "Once, longer ago than I care to think, I was a Paragon to the dwarves of Orzammar," It continued. Now that was something Lenya had not expected.

"Caridin? The Paragon smith? Alive?" Shale said like the whole thing was unbelievable. Well, it was pretty unbelievable.

"Ah, there is a voice I recognize," Caridin said and its voice sounded proud, "Shayle of the house of Cadash, step forward."

"You... know my name?" Shale asked and its voice was unsure, "Is it you that forged me, then? Is it you that gave me my name?"

"Have you forgotten, then?" Caridin asked and then sighed, "It has been so long," It added and then continued to explain, "I made you into the golem you are now, Shayle, but before that you were a dwarf... just as I was. The finest warrior to serve the king Valtor, and the only woman to volunteer," Oddly that made more sense than Lenya would have thought it would. Something in Shale had always struck her as a feminine. It... no, not it, her fascination for gems and then there were the crystals, _"So, what do you think? They don't make me look any wider do they, because I think I'm wide enough already?"_ Shale had asked from Lenya, when she'd given her those crystals she had embedded on her rocky skin even now.

To Shale this revelation was more of an shock than it was for Lenya, "The only... woman? A dwarf?" Shale said and she sounded incredulous and a more than a bit worried.

"I laid you on the Anvil of the Void, here in this very room, and put you into the form you now possess," Caridin said.

"Anvil of the Void... that is what we seek," Shale said and turned to look at Lenya. Caridin did so as well and when he spoke he addressed his words to her.

"If you seek the Anvil, then you must care about my story, or be doomed to relive it," Caridin said.

Lenya lifted her eyes until she was looking at the eyes of the golem. It didn't matter to her, that his eyes were two glowing lights. There was a need there. Something he wanted from her. That really shouldn't come as a surprise anymore, but it was still damn annoying that everyone seemed to want something from her. Although, at this point she probably wouldn't trust anyone who just offered their help without asking something from her first.

"So you want something. Everyone does," Lenya said.

"I do," Caridin replied. Well, at least he was honest in that, "I lived to ensure that the Anvil was never used again. Now it never shall be," He added, "It allowed me to forge a man of steel or stone, as flexible and clever as any soldier. As an army, they were invincible. But I told no one the cost," He continued and as he spoke his voice gained a regretful tone, "No mere smith, however skilled, has the power to create life. To make my golems live, I had to take the lives from elsewhere."

Lenya started to see where this was going. Lives had to come from somewhere. From volunteers, like Shale, but she doubted that had lasted for long. From what she'd seen of dwarven politics and how they treated their own people. Someone, probably the King had decided to force his own people, probably his enemies, to the golem forms. Which would then explain the control rods, "A dire shortcut. Was it worth it?" Lenya asked from the ancient Paragon. She already knew the answer, but wanted to hear him say it.

"So said my King. I had only intended to use volunteers, but he was not satisfied..." Carridin replied. Of course he wasn't, "...and soon a river of blood flowed from this place."

"Not a surprise that," Lenya shrugged, "From what I've seen of the dwarven politics it was just a matter of time," She continued, but the golem Paragon did not seem to be listening.

"Finally, it was too much. I refused," Caridin said, "And so Valtor had me put on the Anvil, next."

"So... what now?" Lenya asked looking at the golem, "Do you want revenge?" She wouldn't blame him for that, but vengeful golem was something she really didn't need at the moment.

The golem Paragon surprised her when he replied, "Not revenge. The blow of the hammer opened my eyes," There was deep feeling of regret coming from him now as he continued to speak, "My apprentices knew enough to make me as I am, but not enough to fashion a control rod. I retained my mind."

Lenya studied the Paragon and thought about what he was saying. She felt sorry for him. He had wanted to save his homeland from darkspawn, only to have his noble intentions twisted by a power hungry King that wanted to enslave those who opposed him. And people wondered why Lenya distrusted those in power.

"You were amongst the most loyal, Shayle. You remained at my side throughout, and at the end I send you away out of mercy," Caridin said to Shale.

"I... do not remember," Shale said and there was odd distress in her voice. It was clear, that the fact, that she couldn't remember bothered and frustrated her.

"We have remained entombed here ever since, and I have sought a way to destroy the Anvil," Caridin said and it started to become clear what the ancient Paragon wanted from her, "Alas, I cannot do it myself. No golem can touch it," That explained why he hadn't done it already.

She could do it, but that would mean, that she would lose an army like no other. But... only way she could even consider of saving the damn thing would be if you could somehow ensure that you only took volunteers. As her thoughts got to that point they were interrupted by a yell that pretty much told her that it was an impossible dream, "No! The Anvil is mine! No one can take it from me!" Yelling madly Branka ran into the room.

"Shayle... you fought to destroy the Anvil once! Do not allow it to fall into unthinking hands again!" Caridin said as soon as Branka entered the room.

"You speak of things I do not remember," Shale said and there was odd seriousness in her tone, "You say we fought... did you use our control rods to command us to do so?" She asked and fixed her eyes on Caridin's.

"I destroyed the rods!" Caridin said. That was bit odd, since Shale had a control rod. Rod that the mage Wilhelm had abused and used to make Shale no more than a puppet. Now that Lenya knew Shale had once been a dwarf, the notion that Shale had crushed the mage made her happy, "Perhaps my apprentices eventually learned to replace the rods, I do not know, but if so, then all they need is the Anvil to make all the slaves they need!" She could sense Caridin's desperation of the thought that his invention would be used again. Shale looked distressed and indecisive so Caridin turned to look at her, "You! Please... help me destroy the Anvil! Do not let it enslave more souls than it already has!" He pleaded.

Lenya was back on the decision she had been thinking when Branka interrupted them. Again Branka interrupted her thoughts, "Don't listen! He's been trapped here for a thousand year, stewing in his own madness. Help me claim the Anvil and you will have an army like you've never seen!" Branka yelled and when Lenya turned to look at the Paragon. Madness she'd seen in Branka's eyes when they had seen her the first time was still there.

"Branka, you mad, bleeding nug-tail. Does this thing mean so much to you that you can't even see what you've lost to get it?" Oghren asked, giving Lenya more time to think.

"Look around," Branka said to Oghren, "Is this how our empire should look like? A grumbling tunnel filled with darkspawn spume? The Anvil let us take back our glory," She continued and there it was. Glory. Why did everyone always want back their glory days or gain some glory at the cost of the men and women who served them.

No, dwarves could not be trusted by something like the Anvil. Lenya doubted anyone could be trusted to have power like this. She could see the temptation even in herself. It would be so easy to just build a golem army and reclaim what her people had lost and then punish the Shems for their crimes.

Lenya closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Images of Hespith and Laryn flickered in her sight. There was no way she would leave the Anvil to a mad woman who fed her whole house to darkspawn and planned to make a broodmother out of her lover.

"No!" Lenya said and opened her eyes, "There is no way I am leaving the Anvil to someone who fed her clan to the darkspawn and tried to make a broodmother out of her own lover. This world doesn't need anymore powerful crazy people than it already has."

"So, it fights with Caridin? Good. That seems right," Shale said and that was more than enough proof that she'd done the right thing. For a momentarily she wondered if she would have made different decision if Branka would have been sane. She wanted to believe she would have done the same thing, but she couldn't be sure of that. Whatever it took to defeat the Blight.

"Thank you, stranger. Your compassion shames me," Caridin said and that strengthened the feeling that she was doing the right thing.

"No! You will not take it! Not while I still live!" Branka screamed and madness in her eyes grew more visible.

"Branka! Don't throw your life away for this!" Oghren tried to get through to his wives madness, but there was no change in Branka at all.

"I'm sorry, Oghren, but she is dangerous," Lenya said.

"Just give her the blasted thing! She's confused... maybe once she's calmed down we can talk to her!" Oghren said and there was a pleading tone in his voice.

"She fed her house to the darkspawn, Oghren," Lenya pointed out and unsheathed her swords, "She made Laryn a broodmother and intended the same fate for Hespith. I am sorry, Oghren, but your wife died a long ago," Oghren stared at her and then he sighed. A lonely tear formed in his eyes and then he grabbed his axe from his back, before he turned to face his wife.

"Bah! You are not the only master smith here, Caridin! Golems, obey me! Attack!" Branka said and waved a rod in front of her. Four of the golems started to move after her words.

"Damn!" Lenya muttered. Their swords were hardly ideal against the golems. Only her swords could cut the rocky skin of the golems without losing their edge. After this she would really get some maces or war hammers to their armaments. Alistair had cursed the fact that his sword already needed to be sharpen.

"A control rod! but... my friend, you must help me! I cannot stop her alone!" Caridin pleaded. He seemed to be rooted in place. Fighting the orders of the rod Branka was holding up. He would be no use in the fight like that.

Like Caridin, not all the golems obeyed Branka. They would be no help in the fight either, but at least they wouldn't need to fight against them.

"Shale, take one of the golems," Lenya ordered, "I'll take one. Oghren and Sten, you take the other two. Morrigan and Wynne assist when you can. Rest of you deal with Branka," She had wanted to kill Branka herself, she'd promised that to Hespith and Laryn, but it seemed she would not get the opportunity.

Lenya engaged her chosen golem and started to wear it down. There was no easy way to kill golems as she'd discovered earlier in the maze. You pretty much had to hack them into pieces or run a sword down to the body from the neck. Which was not as easily done as it was for the soft and squishy things, like Shale had put it. First of all you had to climb at the back of the golem and that was not so easily done. Then she would need to strike the tip of her sword in the seam where the head met the rest of the body and push her sword through the rocky skin. That pretty much killed the golem. So of course they did not like it at all when someone tried to climb at their back.

After a little while Lenya found an opening when she dodged the golems hit and its hand buried itself on the ground. Using the hand as a jumping point she hurled herself at the shoulder of the damn thing and drove her sword down on its neck. Shudder went through the thing and then it collapsed, like the strings that had kept it up had been severed.

When she turned to see how others were doing she saw that Oghren was just about to finish his golem, Sten was nearly finished his as well and Shale had already won her battle. That left only Branka standing. She might be just a smith, but she certainly knew how to fight and she seemed to be keeping Zevran and Alistair at bay. Maybe it was the madness that made her able to stand against those two.

Then Branka got a shot in and nicked Zevran's arm with her mace. Lenya saw the assassin fall back and holding his arm. Pain visible in his face. Wynne was already casting a spell on him, but that left Alistair fighting Branka alone and there was no telling how that would end.

"It is not him you want to kill, Branka," Lenya said and stepped closer to the on going fight, "It is me and only me, who prevents you from getting the Anvil."

"No, Lenya!" Alistair yelled and shielded himself from the onslaught the mad woman was giving him. He took a step backwards and almost lost his balance on a debris that was littered all around the room.

Lenya stepped into the fight and blocked a blow that would have hit Alistair's side, "What have I said about focusing in the battle?" She asked from Alistair as she drove Branka backwards with series of fast strikes.

"That I should keep my mind on the fight, no matter what I see or hear," Alistair said, ashamed and joined back in the fight.

"Good boy," Lenya said to him, smiling a little as she cut Branka's shield in half, "I promised Hespith and Laryn that you will pay for what you did, Branka. There is no forgiveness for what you did. Only justice," Then she launched herself in a series of attacks that struck the mace out of the mad Paragon's hand and ran her through with her other sword. As the sword pierced the heart of the Paragon, her eyes seemed to clear from the madness and there was gratefulness in them. Like she was thanking Lenya for releasing her from the madness.

"Branka!" Oghren yelled and ran to them. He catched the body of his wife as she started to fall down, "You bleeding nug-tails!" He muttered to her and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Oghren," Lenya said and wiped the blood off from her sword.

"Don't..." Oghren said without turning to look at her. He lowered Branka's body to the ground and placed her hands to cover the wound that had killed her.

Lenya just nodded at the dwarf and turned to look at Caridin. He was staring at Branka as well. "Another life lost because of my invention," He said, voice heavy with regret, "I wish no mention of it had made it into history."

"Yeah, you ain't kidding," Oghren said behind her, "Stupid woman! Always knew the Anvil would kill her," He continued, sounding angry and resigned.

"How is it that the woman was not able to disable me as she did you, Caridin?" Shale asked, her whole being seemed to be puzzled.

"I do not know. Have you been altered?" Caridin asked.

"I once had pathetic little mage of a master. He... did something to me. Experimented on me. And then I killed him and it rendered me paralyzed," Shale replied. There was a disgust in her voice. She understood well the reason for that. Since Shale had been a living being before she'd been made a golem, what Wilhelm had done to her, must have been true invasion to her privacy and she had been unable to prevent it.

"Hmm, perhaps he was bringing forth old memories? And caused you to remember the time when... you fought by my side," Caridin mused, "The paralysis you speak of always resulted when the master perished. As for your free will... you were always a strong woman, Shayle. I am pleased to see you remained as such," He continued, his voice proud.

"I don't know what to say," Shale said and she looked a bit unsure. She was still unaccustomed to compliments, "Thank you," She added after a little pause.

Caridin let out a deep sigh, "Do not thank me. All of this... this is my doing, my legacy," He said, regret was back in his voice. He turned to look at Lenya, "But at least it ends here. I thank you for standing with me, stranger. The Anvil waits there for you to shatter it."

"It is a shame we can't trust anyone to use it right," Lenya sighed. Temptation to save it was even stronger now, but she pushed that aside. She could not trust herself with the Anvil, let alone anyone else.

"Aye, that was my great pride, and soon enough, my shame," Caridin said, "Is there any boon I can grant you for your aid? A final favor before I'm freed of my burden?" He asked then.

That question surprised Lenya. It was unexpected, as she had not expected anything. She turned to look at her companions who just shrugged. It was up to her to decide. Then her eyes stopped at Oghren who was still kneeling beside Branka's body, "Oghren, you lost Branka to this. What do you want?" She asked. It was only fitting that he decided. She owed him that.

Oghren touched Branka's hands one more time and then got up, "Don't suppose you can bring Branka back? Maybe make her a golem, like you?" His voice was hopeful.

"I would not do such a thing to her even if I could," Caridin said.

"Somehow I didn't think so. Then I don't want anything that would remind me of... this," Oghren motioned his hand towards the fallen, "Best it's just done," He added, but then he turned to look at Lenya, "There... is still the matter of election. I mean... we still need a Paragon to get the Assemblys's support, right?" He asked and with that Lenya's respect for him got to a new level. She had caused the death of the woman he loved and had been looking for two years and still he was committed to her cause. He wasn't just a drunk, everyone in Orzammar, seemed to think he was. There was more to him than that.

"For the aid you've given me, I shall put hammer to steel one last time, and give you a crown for the king of your choice," Caridin said and turned to walk towards the Anvil.

As she watched Caridin to start working on the crown, Lenya sat on a rock and removed her gloves. She turned them in her hands. They were dented and full of scrapes. And covered in darkspawn blood. Her whole armor was like that. She was lucky that she'd found enough water to clean the broodmother vomit from her face and skin, but her armor would need more thorough cleaning than just splashing some water on it.

She turned to look at the rest of her companions and same wear and tear was clearly visible on them. It was worst for Alistair and Sten who both wore plate armor as well. They would need several days to get their gear in order again and there was no telling how much that would cost.

Flowery scent interrupted her thoughts as Leliana sat beside her. How she still smelled of flowers, after so long in the Deep Roads, was a mystery to Lenya, but she welcomed that scent. It always made her feel better.

"How are you holding up?" Leliana asked.

"I'm..." Lenya started and lifted her eyes to hers. She had been about to say that she was fine, but there was no need to hide the truth from Leliana, "I'm exhausted. Even though I can now sleep better, this constant fighting is starting to get to me. Being underground really does not help at that," She replied, "I really don't understand how the dwarves can stand this."

"I'm sure they think the same way about how we live," Leliana smiled. She looked absolutely radiant when she did that.

"They can think our way is nuts, as much as they like, but they are still crazy," Lenya said and tried to focus on something else than Leliana's lips, "I still want out of here as fast as possible."

"I agree completely," Leliana said, "I want to see the sun again and the stars at night."

"And you don't have to tell me anymore stories to keep me functioning," Lenya said and even she could hear the disappointment on her own voice. She'd grown to like and even expect Leliana's stories when they settled down for the night. Leliana had kept her sane and her fear of being underground in check. And maybe even kept the taint nightmares at bay. That one might had been just her overly tired mind going nuts though.

"I don't mind continuing to tell you stories," Leliana said and then she looked a bit unsure, "Unless you don't want me to do that anymore?"

"No, I don't mind and I have enjoyed your stories a lot. It's like listening Haren Paivel at home, only you have much more attractive voice," Lenya said and then her brains catched up with her mouth and she blushed.

"Thank you, lethallan," Leliana said and put her hand over Lenya's, making her heart skip a beat. By the Creators - Lenya thought and turned her eyes away so Leliana couldn't see her blushing and she didn't trust herself anymore for not to just kiss her there and now.

She was stopped from doing just that by Oghren, "Caridin has finished the crown."

"Good," Lenya managed to say and stood up and turned to look at the ancient Paragon, "It is done?"

"There. It is done. Give it to whom you will," Caridin said and gave a golden crown to her, "I do not wish to hear their names, nor anything more of them. I have already lived far beyond my time. I have no place here."

"But... where will you go? You don't mean to...?" Shale asked and there was a concern and worry in her voice.

"I do. I lived to ensure that the Anvil was never used again. Now it never shall be," Caridin said, "We all must have an end, Shayle. May yours be one of your own choosing," He added and turned to look at her. Lenya passed the crown to Alistair and then turned to look at the Anvil.

When Lenya got closer to the Anvil she started to feel things. Beyond was close here. Not a surprise that, considering what had happen here. She could also feel the pain and anguish of the victims of the Anvil all around her. That feeling grew stronger the closer she got to the Anvil and when her hand touched the hammer the whispering of the dead grew silent. Like they knew what was coming and welcomed it. The end.

Lenya struck the Anvil with all her strength, shattering it to tiny pieces that scattered all around her and fell to the lava river that flowed below. Whispering and all the feelings seized the moment Anvil broke. They were now at peace.

Lenya turned to look at Caridin. The ancient Paragon was also at peace now, "You have my eternal thanks, stranger. Atrast nal tunsha... may you always find your way in the dark," He said and walked at the edge of the lava pit. Then, slowly he fell forward and disappear in the lava below.

Lenya looked at the hammer in her hand and threw it in the lava as well. The Anvil of the Void was destroyed.

"Let's leave this place," Lenya said.

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><p><strong>AN: And there it is, chapter 21 and also end of the search for the Paragon.**

**Obviously I have no idea how the swords seem to work against the golems in the game and not get dull or breaking. So I made up a way to kill golems with swords or Shale might have had a hard time to kill all the golems, Branka commands, all by herself. I also left those golems who help you in that fight away or kept them paralyzed since if Branka could make Caridin to stay put then why the rest weren't obeying her. Shale is different after all.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Chapter 22 is here and at last we are getting back to Orzammar and nearing the end of the Orzammar story line.**

**I wish to thank everyone who has read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted and extra special thanks to those who reviewed.**

**To Faelan, from all the encouragements and support and for putting up with all the unfinished story parts I have made you read, big hugs to you my friend. **

**Huge thanks to Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Everything you don't recognize is owned by me. Lenya is owned by herself.**

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><p>Lenya almost kissed Oghren when he stopped and pointed ahead, "We are back at Orzammar," He says.<p>

She sighs in relief and turns to look at her companions. Everyone was physically and mentally exhausted. Their armor and weapons told very clearly how hard the journey had been. Only one who was not affected by their journey was Shale. That of course applied only to her physique and appearance. Mentally she was a bit confused.

It had been a shock to Shale when Caridin had told her, her origin and it had perhaps been even larger shock when she'd remembered where her old Thaig was. Trip to Cadash Thaig was one reason why everyone was exhausted. It had added a week to their trip, but she did not consider it a waste of time like Sten and Morrigan did.

It was important to know from where you came from. It was something that had been taught to her as soon as she had been old enough to understand what was said. Because they had lost so much of their history, the Dalish valued knowledge of it greatly. This was why, when Shale had asked if they could go to the Cadash Thaig to see if she could learn something about herself. Lenya had agreed without hesitation and hadn't given a thought to the fact that it would mean extra time spent underground. History was important.

Sten had said it was foolish thing to do and a waste of time, but he'd shut up fast, when Lenya had asked if he would have thought the same if his sword were in that Thaig. She'd got an odd satisfaction from saying that to him. For one it had made Sten mutter and leave her alone.

Morrigan had only said it was a waste of time, but also promised to follow Lenya if she was going to do it. That had made Zevran question Morrigan about what she was after. Their banter had been entertaining. Zevran did have a point though. Morrigan was after something. What it was, was still a mystery. Even though Alistair wanted to find out what it was, there was no need to press the issue with Morrigan. They all had secrets and if those secrets did not hinder what they needed to do, those secrets could stay secrets.

"Wardens?" The guard at the deep roads entrance says when he sees them, "Ancestors!" He then exhales, when he noticed the state of their armor. His expression turns to show the utmost respect. "Captain!" He then yells, "The Wardens have returned."

When the captain got to them, he nods at Lenya, "We have almost given up hope of seeing you again," He says, "From the looks of you, the deep roads were not gentle," He adds as he studied them.

"You could say that," Lenya shrugs, "Is the assembly still fighting over the crown or did a miracle happen and they could agree on something?" She asks then.

"They are still fighting," The captain says and slight smile touches his lips, "I think they have all been waiting for you, Warden," He adds.

"Is the assembly meeting at the moment?" She asks.

"They are," The captain replies, "You are not going to go there looking like that?" He asks, lifting his brow.

"I don't have time for waiting and I really don't want to give them more time to scheme than absolutely necessary," She says, "Besides, your leaders should see what happens when you venture outside the safety of Orzammar," She adds, "Leaders always forget what their people endure."

"Fair point, Warden," Captain says, "It is not true with all of them, but it is with many," He adds, "Please follow me," He motions them to follow.

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><p>Loud yelling was the first thing Alistair heard when they stepped into the Assembly hall. Guard captain had been right. They were still fighting.<p>

"Nice to see they are having fun," Zevran says behind him.

"You call that fun?" He asks.

"Of course my dear Alistair," Zevran says. "Fun and job opportunities," He adds then.

"You mean..." He starts and then lowers his voice to a whisper, "...assassinations?"

"No, I mean group dancing," Zevran smiles at him.

"No you're not," He shakes his head.

"Of course not, my innocent little Templar," Zevran grins at him.

"Lords of the Assembly," Assembly Steward raises his voice and strikes his staff on the ground, "I call for order! This argument gets us nowhere!"

"Your father made me swear on his deathbed you would not succeed him," an Elderly dwarf, who must be this Harrowmont, was saying to Bhelen.

That was interesting, Alistair thought. Why would a father make a decision like that? Of course there were the rumors that Bhelen had killed his oldest brother and framed the another one for it, but surely those were just rumors. No one could be that calculating and ruthless, now could they? He turns to look at Bhelen and sighs. Of course it was possible. You only had to look what Branka had done to see for what people were capable of, regardless of their race.

"I apologize for the interruption, Lord Steward, but the Grey Warden has returned," The Guard Captain says to the Steward as he escorted Lenya and Oghren to the middle of the room. Alistair heard gasps from the Assembly members as they saw the condition of Lenya's armor. They had all seen Lenya before she had left to the Deep Roads and they knew what the armor should look like.

But regardless of her scruffy appearance, Lenya demanded attention. She seemed to radiate confidence.

"Well, Warden? What news do you bring?" Bhelen asks.

Lenya did not answer immediately. She let her eyes circle the members of the Assembly before she took the crown, Caridin had made, out of the bag. "I bring a crown forged by Caridin on the Anvil of the Void," She lifted the crown so everyone could see it. Collective gasp went through the Assembly.

"Caridin was trapped in the body of a golem," Oghren says, "This Warden granted him the mercy he sought, releasing him and destroying the Anvil of the Void," He continues and that got another gasp from the dwarves, "Before he died, Caridin forged a crown for Orzammar's next king, chosen by the ancestors themselves!"

"I would like to believe Oghren's word, but its well-known the Grey Warden is Bhelen's hireling!" Harrowmont says.

"She...!" Alistair starts angrily, but a hand covers his mouth stopping his protest. He was not even sure what he was going to say. It just felt like right thing to do.

"Just listen," Zevran's voice whispers in his ear, "Lenya will handle it."

"We are not hirelings!" He hisses angrily when Zevran lifted his hand slowly away from Alistair's mouth.

"No, but they don't know any better," Zevran whispers.

"Silence!" The Steward yells and when the room was mostly silent, he motioned Lenya to hand the crown to him. Lenya gave the crown to him and steps back. How she stayed so calm was weird and little disconcerting. Lenya should not be that calm, when people questioned her motives. "This crown is of Paragon make and bears house Ortan's ancient seal," The Steward says after he examined the crown carefully. There was again gasp from the gathered nobles. There was also a change in how Lenya felt. There was certain smugness in her now. She was smiling. The smile, that told you that she knew more than the others. Alistair was sure of it. Maker, that smile drove him nuts when Lenya used it on him. So he just hoped it would drive the dwarven nobility nuts as well, "Tell us, Warden; whom did Caridin choose?" Steward asks then and that made the room go completely silent.

Lenya let her eyes circle the Assembly again, before she fixes her eyes on the Steward, "He wished me to give it to whomever I chose," She says in clear and even voice. How she could be so calm was mystery to Alistair. She had to know how her announcement would affect the dwarves.

Dwarves burst out in all out yelling, but one voice was louder than the others, "This is preposterous!" Harrowmont yells angrily, "Why would a Paragon trust someone who knows nothing of us with such decision?" He demands.

"Most likely because she doesn't know anything about them," Leliana whispers behind Alistair and he nods.

No one answered Harrowmont's question. The Steward steps in, holding the crown in his hands. "We've argued in these chambers for far too long. The will of the Paragon is that the Grey Warden decides." He says and turns to look at Lenya.

"I grant the crown to Bhelen," Lenya says without hesitation.

"At last," Bhelen says and starts to walk down the steps to the center of the room, "This farce is over and I can take my rightful place on my father's throne," He continues and as he spoke, he walked slowly towards the Steward and many members of the Assembly started to tap their staffs to the ground.

"I name you; King Bhelen of Orzammar," Steward says as Bhelen kneels and he sets the crown on his head.

"Do you acknowledge me as king?" Bhelen turns to speak to Harrowmont.

"I... cannot defy a Paragon," Harrowmont says slowly and then kneels, "The throne is yours... King Bhelen," He continues reluctantly.

Bhelen looked satisfied and then he let his eyes circle the chamber, looking for signs of resistance, perhaps. He found none and turned back to Harrowmont and pointed at him. "Then as my first act as King. I call for this man's execution!" Bhelen says and collective gasp was heard from those who had supported Harrowmont, causing the man mentioned to pale.

Alistair waited Lenya to stop Bhelen, so when Lenya spoke it was complete surprise to him, "All who defies King Bhelen face the same fate," She says with that calm and level voice. He couldn't believe his ears. How could Lenya condone something like that? It was murder.

"Don't!" Leliana says quietly behind him as he was about to open his mouth to object. Her voice did not betray what she was thinking about Lenya's actions, "You can't intervene now."

As the guards dragged Harrowmont away, Bhelen turns to look at Lenya, "I will return to palace to gather my generals and prepare our forces for the surface," He says, "I will see you there, Warden. You have my gratitude for all you have done for me," He continues.

Lenya bows slightly, "I will see you soon, King Bhelen," She says and then turns to leave.

Lenya moved fast to leave the Assembly chambers, so Alistair had to pick up the pace to catch up with her.

"Lenya!" He says and tries to grab her from the shoulder, but she moved too fast, "Would you stop for a moment?"

"Later," Lenya says, "Whatever you want to say to me, can wait for later. After I've had a bath," She continues without turning to look at him, "Because there better be Archdemon waiting outside the gates of Orzammar, if you even think of making me wait for my bath now."

Alistair let his hand fall down to his side and let Lenya walk ahead. He was not brave enough to stop her now and talk about what had happen in the Assembly chamber.

"Smart move, Alistair," Leliana says and comes to walk besides him, "Never get between a woman and a bath," She smiles at him.

"Doesn't it bother you what she did there?" He asks.

"No," Leliana says shaking her head a little, "From the political standpoint what Bhelen did was wise. He can't have someone here who could serve as a rallying point against him," Leliana explains.

"Right..." He says and yes, he understood what Leliana meant and agreed on it to an extent. What he did not agree, was how Lenya had approved that, "I understand that, but she..." He lifts his eyes and stares at Lenya who was walking further ahead, "How could she just approve murder like that?"

"Lenya did not approve a murder. Yes she could have spoken out, but that would have not accomplished anything. Bhelen would have executed Harrowmont regardless and he was in his rights to do so. He is the King of Orzammar," Leliana explains, "By saying what she did there she ensured that she is in good standings with Bhelen and that everyone there knows Bhelen has the Grey Wardens support. The King of Orzammar who can give her the troops she needs on the surface."

"But we have the treaty's, they are obliged to help us during the Blight!" Alistair says.

"And how much the treaties have helped you so far?" Zevran asks and joins the conversation, "Yes, you have the treaties, but in the Circle Tower you had to work for getting them to honor it or so I heard and in here you had to work for it to mean anything. In the end it always comes to politics, my dear Alistair and politics is deadly. It is always good to be in good terms with the people in power and even better to have the people in power owe you a favor. Bhelen knows he owes his crown to Lenya and for Lenya to give her support to him, when he ordered execution of his rival..." Zevran's expression was awed; there was no other way to describe it, "At the moment our gorgeous leader could ask just about anything from Bhelen."

"This is why I hate politics," Alistair says, "They make good people to do bad things."

Leliana sighs and shook her head, "Lenya did nothing wrong or bad, Alistair," She says.

"Whatever it takes to defeat the Blight," Alistair mutters. How he hated that and what it made them do. What it made Lenya do. That made him think of his promise, not to leave Lenya alone with the decisions anymore and here he was doing just that, because Lenya did something that didn't fit well in his view of the world.

"What did you say?" Leliana asks.

"Nothing," He replies, "Nothing important. Let's go find ourselves a bath as well."

"I'm shocked!" Leliana says, with feigned horror in her voice, "You are volunteering to take a bath? World must be ending!" She yelps, still feigning that horror.

Lenya turned around when she heard Leliana's horrified voice even though she couldn't have heard what had been said.

"What happened?" Lenya asks worriedly and checks Leliana from head to toes. When she didn't find anything wrong she lifts her brow questioningly.

"World is ending, lethallan," Leliana explains to Lenya who looks at Leliana like she's lost her mind, "Alistair volunteered to take a bath!" She continues.

"By the Creators!" Lenya exhales and now she was also feigning a shock, "I always knew this day would come, but I thought we had more time! Oh, woe!" She sits on the ground and starts to stare ahead, like she had lost all hope.

"Haha! Very funny!" Alistair says when Leliana follows Lenya's example and sits on the ground.

"What in the Maker's name are they doing?" Wynne asks and points at Lenya and Leliana.

"Our young hero here decided to take a bath and the ladies there interpreted it as a sign that the end is near," Zevran replies. He was all too amused about this for Alistair's tastes.

"That is alarming," Wynne says trying to look serious, but smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, ruining the attempt.

"I'm thoroughly disappointed," Alistair says staring at Wynne, "I mean them," He points at Lenya and Leliana, who now turned to look at him. "Them, I expect to make fun of me, but I would have not expected you to join with them, Wynne. You should be all grandmotherly and kind," He continues and then turns around in a way he hoped would be dramatic and starts to walk towards the inn.

As he walked he muttered to himself about women being cruel and evil.

* * *

><p>It had taken all too long for Lenya's tastes to get her armor off and when she finally was out of it and sitting in a bathtub filled with hot water, she could only sigh in relief as the warmth started to untangle the tension from her body and she closed her eyes.<p>

She did not know how long she had lain in the tub, her eyes closed, when a knock from the door brought her back. "Who is it?" She asks.

"It's me, Lissa," Came an answer. She recognized the voice. It was the innkeeper's daughter. "The innkeeper's daughter," The girl adds as if she had read her mind.

"Come in," She says. She'd asked from the innkeeper if someone could clean her armor and also send a word to a smith.

"I've come to take your armor for cleaning, my lady," Lissa says when she steps inside.

"It's over there," She says and points in the corner where she'd dropped it, "I would be careful while handling it though. It's covered in all sorts of nasty stuff," She warns the young girl.

"I know how to handle tainted armors, my lady," Lissa says, "By the Ancestors!" She breathes in shock, when she sees the condition of Lenya's armor. "Whatever have you been fighting against, my lady?"

"Darkspawn, those ugly walking worm things, golems, ghosts, Broodmother and demons. You know, the usual stuff," Lenya replies smiling a little.

"You are very brave, my lady," Lissa says, "Father always says the Grey Wardens are great warriors, but I never quite imagined what you actually do."

"I don't think fighting against these things makes me brave," Lenya shrugs, "Things I can kill don't scare me, but these tunnels and caves terrify me. Without Lel..." She stops abruptly. She was not going to tell Lissa that without Leliana and her stories about the surface, she would have never got to the Anvil, let alone back to Orzammar.

"That sounds really odd," Lissa says, "But I guess I would feel the same way if I ever go to the surface. All that open space... mere thought of it makes my knees weak," She continues and shivers seem to go through her, "I will leave you to enjoy your bath, my lady," She then says and lifts up the sack where she'd put Lenya's armor.

"You can call me Lenya," She says, "No need to go and use all those my ladies, when there is just the two us," She adds then.

"As you wish, my... Lenya," Lissa says and bows her head a little before leaving the room.

Lenya smiled and then pulled a lever to let the water away from the tub, then she pulled another one that filled the tub again with hot water. That mechanism fascinated her. A hot bath whenever you wanted it, just by pulling a lever in a wall. The Dalish had nothing like that. Not that you even could add something like that on aravels.

When the tub was full she studied the scented oils and soaps that had been placed on the nearby table. She chose one that made her think of the forest and poured it on the water. She had no idea how dwarves who lived underground even knew what the forest smells like.

She closed her eyes and just let the smell of the forest soothe her.

* * *

><p>Leliana sat in the inns common room with others, when she sensed someone behind her and scent of the forest and something... sunny, she couldn't think of another word for that, bright and alluring scent, drifted in her nose. She had to turn to look who was behind her.<p>

Lenya was standing behind her and she looked warm and...edible. There was a flush in her cheeks that had been missing in the Deep Roads and the sunny and foresty scent was coming from her. Lenya must have taken a long bath as these were scents Leliana had never noticed on her before. Well that was not completely true, that sunny scent has always been there, but because of Lenya's armor it had been barely noticeable and Leliana had never connected it to Lenya herself, "You smell good," She blurts out and then covered her mouth with her hand. She had not meant to say that out loud.

Lenya blushed a little and she smiled coyly at her. Dear Maker! Leliana thought as her stomach fluttered like it was full of butterflies.

"Thank you," Lenya says. "It is good to smell good for a change," She adds and gave her a brilliant smile.

Leliana couldn't find anything to say. Well nothing that she would be comfortable with saying in front of others, anyway. It was probably good that she was not alone with Lenya or she would not be able to keep her hands of her - You are so smitten by her, Leliana - She thought.

"You really took your time with the bath," She hears Alistair saying to Lenya.

"Don't know about the rest of you, but whoever designed that hot water system was a genius," Lenya says, "I've not felt this good in..." She starts and then shrugs, "Well, for a very long time."

"It shows, my dear Warden," Zevran says, "You look absolutely ravishing," He adds with a flirty tone, that sent a spike of jealousy through Leliana, which was ridiculous. Lenya was not interested in Zevran or men in general.

"My brains did not melt in the water, Zevran," Lenya smiles at the assassin, "You are still missing the good parts," She adds.

"I'm hurt, my dear Warden!" Zevran says, "How can you think that, that is the only thing I'm thinking?" He asks amused.

"Because it is?" Leliana asks with more bite in her voice than she had intended.

Zevran lifted his brow at her, smiling a knowing smile. He did not say anything more, but his eyes went between her and Lenya.

"Did everyone else enjoy their baths?" Lenya asks, saving her from more embarrassment.

"Very much so," Wynne replies, "Hot water did wonders to these old bones," She smiles.

"It was very enjoyable," Alistair says, "It was really nice to get all the darkspawn blood off."

"Not to mention Broodmother vomit," Lenya says and shiver goes through her. Only then Leliana noticed that Lenya had put her hand on her shoulder and she felt, not saw, Lenya shivering. Now that she was aware of it, she felt warmness spreading to her whole body - Dear Maker! - She thought again. She tried not to do anything that would make Lenya remove her hand. She was certain that Lenya did not even realize what she was doing, "I don't think I've ever smelled anything worse than that," Lenya was saying, but Leliana only barely registered her words as Lenya had started absentmindedly draw circles with her finger on her shoulder, sending tendrils of warmth through her.

"Maybe next time, you remember, not to get caught up with the tentacles of the Broodmother," Alistair says grinning. She tried to focus on Alistair's voice and face, but that was nearly impossible. Only thing she could feel was Lenya's finger going in small circles on her shoulder.

"Maybe next time you will do that then," Lenya says and she could hear the smile on her lips. She fought the urge to close her eyes and just enjoy the sensation of Lenya's fingers on her skin. That was when she noticed that Zevran was looking at her intently. It meant that the insufferable man had noticed what Lenya was doing and he was enjoying the show.

Then, as abruptly as the gentle stroking had begun, it stopped and Leliana felt Lenya taking her hand from her shoulder. She felt glad and annoyed about it. She also wanted to turn and look at Lenya, to see why she'd stopped. Was it because she had noticed what she was doing or just because she was moving to sit down on the free chair next to her.

"I think I'll pass on that!" Alistair laughs, "If you ladies are correct I already smell bad enough without being vomited on by a Broodmother," He grins at Lenya who let out little chuckle.

"How can you turn down such experience?" Lenya asks. Nothing on her told Leliana why she'd took her hand away from her shoulder. She almost groaned from the frustration. After all, with everyone here, she couldn't just ask.

"Let me think," Alistair says and then he shakes his head, "No, I don't think I want that experience."

"But think how impressive it would look on your Grey Warden resume. Drank darkspawn blood - check, Killed a lot of darkspawn - check, got vomited on by a Broodmother – check," Lenya says.

"No, I don't think I want that. I let you have all the glory," Alistair smiles, "Wouldn't be fair to steal the spotlight from you."

"Spoilsport!" Lenya laughs and then she turns to the others, "We can rest for a few days. Our armors and weapons need attention of the smith, so we have to wait for those anyway. Not quite sure yet, how we can pay the repairs, but we don't have much choice," She says, "We need other supplies as well. We probably need some kind of list of the things we need and then we have to see what we can afford."

"We should go to the Shaperate and give them this. They might pay for this kind of information," Oghren says and hands Lenya some papers.

"What are these?" Lenya asks as she studied the papers.

"Tracings of the text from the monument I saw at the Anvil of the Void," Oghren says, "I thought it could be worth a bit for the Shapers," He grins.

"You want me to have these?" Lenya asks, staring Oghren, like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"Well, we need money and those are worth a sodding lot," Oghren shrugs.

"We?" Lenya asks.

"You helped me to find Branka, so it's just sodding right that I help you shove our boots up to the Archdemon's arse," Oghren says.

"If you are sure of this, then I am in your debt, Oghren," Lenya says and bowed respectfully to Oghren. Leliana had to shake her head. The way Lenya interacted with her companions would put any bard in shame. Difference was that what Lenya did was honest.

"Don't go all weepy on me, Warden," Oghren says, his voice rough, "We sodding need the money for my sodding drinks, that is all," He adds, but he was clearly touched. Everyone just thought Oghren to be a lousy drunkard and no one showed respect to him. Alistair and others in their group respected Oghren's battle prowess, but Lenya seemed to respect Oghren for who he was.

"Of course," Lenya smiles at him, "You can come with me now then, as I was about to go to the Shaperate anyway. To give those records we found from Ortan Thaigh to that woman, Orta."

"If the records prove that she is noble, you might be able to get sizable reward from her as well," Oghren says.

"I doubt she has much wealth or she could have hired someone to get these much earlier," Lenya says, "So, she would be a noble without wealth."

"You obviously don't know those sodding nobles well," Oghren let out a barking laugh, "I'd bet my arse that there are all sorts of sodding records of the house Orta's wealth and if the house is recognized again all that wealth is returned."

"But, it's been so long since there even was house Ortan. Surely all the wealth has been gone by now," Lenya says, "Used by others and something like that."

"Let's return these and if the girl is a noble, you will see what I mean," Oghren laughs again.

"Anyone else want to join us?" Lenya turns to look at the rest of them.

"I'll come," Leliana says. She wanted to be close to Lenya. Part of her was hoping that she would find herself alone with Lenya at some point.

"Thank you, lethallan," Lenya smiles at her.

"I'll come as well. It does not have any armor so it might need some protection," Shale says.

"Worried of my safety, Shale?" Lenya asks smiling at Shale, "I'm shocked."

"It has been nice to me, so I don't want it to die. Tinman would probably not be as nice and I'd have to crush its head like a melon and then the Blight would continue."

"Hey!" Alistair says indignantly as Lenya chuckled at Shale.

Bark from under the table told that Abelas was coming too.

"Alright then," Lenya says, "We go to the Shaperate. Rest of you make that list of the stuff we need," Then she motioned them to follow as she left the inn.

* * *

><p>Alistair was sitting alone in the common room of the inn, waiting for Lenya to return. She had been called to the Assembly by that Orta woman. It had been five days since Lenya had handed Orta those documents from the Ortan Thaig.<p>

It had taken these five days for the smiths to repair their armors and weapons. Only one who's weapons did not require anything were Lenya's Starmetal swords. Ma'elgar and Ma'vhenan as Alistair had heard Lenya call them. Leliana had told him that each meant, my spirit and my heart, in human language. Lenya really loved her swords. Only Sten seemed to fully understand Lenya and her relationship to her swords. To Alistair and to the rest of them it was a mystery, but you couldn't deny that Lenya became a force of nature when she wielded those two swords.

Positive thing in all was that Bhelen had ordered the repairs to be made without a cost. That had saved a lot of coin for them and they had been able to buy all the necessary supplies.

Bhelen also seemed to be very efficient King. Whole of Orzammar was like an anthill that had been kicked over as it prepared for war and Bhelen was also true to his word and he had but the plans in motion to include the casteless on Orzammar's life and most importantly in its defense. Obviously he couldn't change things immediately or the traditional dwarves would take up arms, so the change would start only after the Blight was over and he could concentrate fully on Orzammar.

Alistair was not so sure they could trust the man, but Lenya did and that was all that mattered. Of course there was nothing they even could do even if the man would lie to them. He was the King of Orzammar now.

Orzammar's politics were not their problem anymore. They had the troops they needed and now they had to move on, to Redcliffe. That made him a bit uncomfortable. He would need to tell Lenya about his father soon. He just hoped Lenya would understand why he'd been keeping it a secret.

He wondered if he could just blurt it out like. 'By the way, my father was King Maric' and then go hide somewhere before Lenya recovered from the news. - No, it wouldn't work, Lenya would just send Abelas after him - He sighs.

Maybe he should make sure that Leliana was near when he told the news. He had noticed that Lenya was a lot calmer when Leliana was near her. He was not quite sure what the relationship between those two was, except that they were becoming very close. That thought sent only a small ripple of jealousy through him anymore and even that wasn't romantic jealousy. It was more of the 'You spent more time with my fellow Warden than I do' jealousy.

"What are you thinking so hard that your brow is all wrinkled up?" Lenya's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Nothing important," He replies lifting his head so he could see Lenya. Unfortunately, that also made him look at Morrigan.

"'Tis not a surprise," Morrigan says.

"Oh, you brought the witch," He says, and tilted his head a little, "I kind of hoped you would have been burned in a pyre already," He says keeping his eyes on Morrigan's and smiling. Morrigan scoffs and rolls her eyes. After their return back to Orzammar, Morrigan had returned to her normal coldness towards him and in sometimes she even went further. Like she was trying to erase the weakness, she'd experienced at the Deep Roads after the Broodmother, by being even more of a bitch than she normally was.

"Would you two stop that for a moment," Lenya sighs.

"Stop what?" He asks grinning, but Lenya gave him a level stare, "Alright, alright." He says and lifts his hands in the air. Morrigan just scoffs again and then she leaves, "What did Orta have to say?"

"This," Lenya says and sets a large pouch on the table.

"Is that...?" He starts and pokes the pouch with his finger. Muffled clink sound came from inside the pouch. Lenya just nods, "Oghren was right," He says and Lenya nods again.

"Orta gave me sixty gold and told me that it is only for now since they have not been able to go through all the assets of the house. She said there will be more for us later," Lenya says shaking her head, "I've never seen this much coins in my life," She adds.

"Can't say I've seen that much coin either," He says, "This will help a lot as we don't have to worry about food and other supplies for a while."

"Orta said that she will send the rest with the courier to the dwarven ambassador that will join with our group," Lenya says. "If my clan could see me now they would not believe their eyes. I, Lenya Mahariel the Wild One, have my own ambassador with the durgen'len. World must be going mad."

"No, I don't think it is going mad," He says, "It just knows who can save it," He adds smiling.

"That does sound awfully like it is going mad if it thinks I can save it," Lenya chuckles.

"Oh, I'm sure she knows what she's doing," He assures her.

"We can only hope," Lenya says and then looks around, "Is everyone ready to leave Orzammar?"

"Pretty much," He replies. "We only have to put our armors on and then we are good to go."

"You have no idea how happy that makes me," Lenya says, "Aside from the bath in this inn I really don't like to be underground."

"How many baths you've actually taken in these last five days?" He asks curiously and saw something that usually only happen when Leliana was around. Lenya blushed.

"Err... few," Lenya replies and her blush deepens. "I would have loved to share it with... someone." She bit her lower lip as she spoke.

"You would?" He asks before he could stop himself. He should have learned by now that if he didn't want to be blushing like a tomato, he did not ask things like that from Lenya.

"Of course. The bath is huge. Think of what you can do in one with a girl," Lenya says and there was now mischievous glint in her eyes. He had walked in the trap Lenya had laid for him. How in the Maker's name she could blush like that whenever she wanted? - He wonders as he felt the blush spreading on his face.

"It's a gift," Lenya chuckles and then leaves him, sitting there, blushing.

"Evil woman," He mutters and gets up. As he did so, he noticed that the innkeeper's daughter, Lissa, was sitting on the floor, laughing. Great - he thought - That's just wonderful, now dwarven girls are laughing at me.

He sighs and leaves the common room.

* * *

><p>When Lenya stepped out of the gates of Orzammar, she was greeted by the rising sun. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. Then again, after weeks underground she probably would have welcomed any weather as the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.<p>

She closed her eyes and let the sun and a light breeze caress her face. "By the Creators I've missed this," She says after a while and lets out a delighted laugh.

"Me too," Leliana says and joins in her laughter.

Then Lenya heard a gasp behind her and she turned to look at the source of it. Oghren was standing still and stared at the sky in horror, "Gi-give me a moment," He says in unsteady voice.

Lenya didn't even think how this might affect Oghren. Seeing that fearless and more than a little crazy warrior staring at the sky in fear was somehow wrong. Oghren didn't fear anything, but here he was, staring the sky in horror, "Take your time," She says.

"By the Stone, I feel like I'm about to fall off the world with all that sky up there," Oghren says and without thinking his hand went to his flask and he took a big gulp.

"Well, take your time," She says to him, "With our luck we are going to fight something before these gates are barely out of sight, so I need you to be ready to fight."

Oghren snorts at that, "If I could fight Randal Vollney's second after downing fifteen lichen-ales in half an hour, I'm not going to be put off by a high sodding ceiling," He says and takes another gulp from his flask, "Well, let's get moving. We're losing... whatchacallit? Daylight," He continues and then starts to walk away from the gates.

"Follow the drunken dwarf," Lenya says to the others, "I don't know about anyone else, but I actually want to get away from the mountains. Maybe even frolic in the forest," She continues.

"Do the Dalish really frolic in the forest?" Zevran asks, looking at her curiously.

"Of course we do. Can't do it properly now, of course, because it needs to be done naked and the preparations for it, are quite complicated and most importantly, a secret," She replies, "You all would just get all too excited if I get my clothes off and start to frolic. No shem or dwarf could survive it and even though you are an elf, you are a flatear, so your survival would not be guaranteed either and I just can't take that on my conscience," She explains with serious tones. Keeping worried expression on her face was more difficult as Zevran's expression told to her that he was obviously not sure if she was joking or not.

"Have anyone told you that you are an evil and wicked woman?" Zevran asks finally. He was also smiling at her approvingly.

"Alistair tells me quite often how evil I am, but this is the first time I'm being called wicked," She replies. "Thank you," It was one thing to tease Alistair, but to make Zevran, even for a moment, believe the nonsense she'd let out of her mouth, was priceless, "I only frolic in the forest when there is someone to frolic with," She then says and she really had to resist the urge to look at Leliana, who was more and more in her thoughts.

"Preferably with someone who has all the good parts?" Alistair asks. Like everyone, except Oghren, he seemed to be happy to be outside.

"Indeed," She smiles at him, "Hmm, let's pick up the pace before Oghren gets lost and we need to search for him," She then says as she noticed Oghren was already walking a quite a bit ahead of them. He was staring straight forward, so he wouldn't need to see the sky and that meant he really didn't see anything, "And I think we should see if Bodahn and Sandal are still here. He said he would wait, but it was over a month ago."

"Enchantment!" Alistair says smiling.

"Exactly," She nods. "Let's go see what we can find."

With that they left the dwarven kingdom behind them and started their journey to the town of Redcliffe.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Chapter 22 and we are officially out of the Orzammar and the Deep Roads. It's good to breath clear mountain air. :)**

**When I started to write the Orzammar and Deep Roads part of the story I thought it will take couple of chapters. Never would have thought it takes 6 chapters to get through it all.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Chapter 23 is ready to go. Lenya is enjoying the outdoor life after weeks underground.**

**I wish to thank all of you who have read this far. Special thanks to those who have fave/alerted and extra special thanks to those who have reviewed. Your feedback and positive words mean a lot to me. :)**

**My eternal gratitude for continued encouragement and support goes to Faelan.**

**Huge thanks to Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Things you don't recognize are mine and Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p>Soon after leaving the gates of Orzammar it had started to rain and that rain had lasted for three days. Except for Oghren, everyone had enjoyed the rain even though it had thoroughly soaked them at the fourth day when the rain stopped and the sky cleared.<p>

Sky cleared so fast that it seemed like magic. The sun felt amazing and even though they were still pretty high in the mountains it did warm up the air enough that they decided to stop early and see if they could dry at least some of their clothes and gear.

When Lenya gave the order to stop, not even Sten complained that they still had a daylight left to travel.

"I think I'm going crazy," Lenya says to Leliana and Alistair as she started to remove her armor, "All the clothes I wear under my armor are soaking wet and I couldn't care less about it. Even while it was raining I was only happy about it," She continues.

"I think we all are crazy then," Alistair says, "I hope I never have to go to the Deep Roads again," He then adds, "Well, not for the next thirty years or so," He then corrects.

"Would be nice, but I doubt I'm that lucky," She smiles.

"What's so special with thirty years?" Leliana asks curiously.

"Warden Things," Alistair replies shrugging his shoulders. His answer did not satisfy Leliana though as her expression turned annoyed and her eyes turn to look at Lenya.

Lenya wanted to tell her, but she was not sure how. She was not sure she herself wanted to know, that if she would live long enough, she would return to the Deep Roads one more time and fight the darkspawn until they killed her. "Warden Things," She finally says. Leliana's annoyed expression deepened and there was also touch of betrayal in her eyes.

"Lenya!" Zevran yells, interrupting the silence that had fallen between the three of them after her words, "How do you want to arrange the watch?"

"I'll take the first watch after midnight so Alistair can get some rest," Lenya replies. Even though they were not in the Deep Roads anymore, either she or Alistair was always awake and someone was always keeping them company. With her it was almost always Leliana and oddly enough Zevran was the one who kept Alistair company, "You still want to take the late shift with him?" She asks from the assassin. Those two got along surprisingly well, considering the fact that Alistair did not trust Zevran at all. First she had thought that Zevran tried to bed Alistair and of course he did try that at the beginning, but since Alistair was not interested he had mostly stopped trying it.

"If our innocent templar don't mind it then yes," Zevran says grinning at Alistair.

"No, not at all, I enjoy having someone who tried to kill me, watching at my back," Alistair snorts.

"Ah, dear Alistair," Zevran chuckles, "Things you say must drive the girls wild," He laughs and leaves to his tent.

"Who will take the shift with you?" Alistair asks after Zevran was gone.

"I'll keep her company," Leliana states. It did not come as a surprise to Lenya or Alistair, since whenever Leliana was given a choice to when to be on watch, she chose the time when Lenya herself was on watch and Lenya did not mind that at all.

"Alright then," Lenya says, "Tell the others that their watch shifts are like they have been the last month," She says to Alistair who nods before leaving to do as she ordered. She didn't know why Zevran even bothered to ask about the shifts as those have been the same since the third day in the deep roads. Only thing that changed was the time when she and Alistair's shifts were.

Shaking her head a bit she turns to look at the fire Wynne and Morrigan had set up for cooking. Morrigan of course had her own spot as well, but she usually retreated there only after the food, "Those two are cooking together?" She asks incredulously when she saw both mages around the fire. It was usually best to keep Wynne and Morrigan away from each other, especially in the camp.

"We might get some explosive food today," Leliana says smiling.

"They better not ruin the dinner," Lenya mutters, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving, lethallan," Leliana chuckles and touches her arm fondly. It was only brief contact, but it made her skin burn and she wanted more. Ever since Orzammar when she'd noticed that she was caressing Leliana's shoulder without even thinking about it, she'd had to resist the temptation to do it again and it was getting increasingly difficult to resist it. Every time she touched Leliana or Leliana touched her, it left a burning desire for more.

"Wonders of the Grey Wardens," She says sighing, using the sigh to hide her feelings, "I'll go see if they will give me something to eat now and then I'll see if I can get my under tunic dry somehow," She starts to walk towards the mages who were already arguing about something. Leliana was right. The food might explode if those two tried to make it together, "I would rather appreciate if only one of you makes the food as I actually would love to have some food and not have it explode in my mouth or stomach," She says to the pair.

"T'was not my fault the schoolmistress decided to stick her nose where it was not needed," Morrigan says.

"I don't care who did what. Just don't ruin the damn dinner or I make you two eat what Alistair can cook," She threatens the pair. Both of them paled. Alistair's cooking was more than bad. If applied properly you might be able to use it as a weapon.

After that she snatched one apple from the supplies and left the mages to either cook or ruin the dinner.

* * *

><p>Leliana stared at Lenya who was keeping watch near her. Ever since they left Orzammar they had been keeping watch together and every night she had tried to gather enough courage to go and tell Lenya about her feelings.<p>

Every touch between them was now a slow torture. Even the smallest touch of skin made electric shocks run through her entire body, but whenever she was going to say something her stomach got full of butterflies and it tied her tongue to knots.

She was sure that Lenya felt the same way. She'd seen her staring at her and she'd seen the desire in her eyes when the touches occurred and before she could lower her eyes.

'_Just say something'_ - she thought _- 'you're a bard, you should be good at this'_ - her thoughts continued to urge her to speak. She didn't even notice that Lenya was not standing there anymore.

She only noticed that Lenya had been away when she returned and walked right to her. She was holding something in her hands.

"For you, lethallan," Lenya says and offers, what she was holding, to her.

She looks down and her eyes go wide. There was lovely white flowers in Lenya's hand. "Flowers? For me? Oh... they're beautiful," She took the flowers in her hand and lifts her eyes to Lenya.

"Smell them," Lenya says, smiling like she was waiting for something.

She did as Lenya suggested and brought the flowers close to her nose and then inhaled its fragrance. Her eyes got even wider as the familiar scent filled her nose. These were the flowers her mother had loved, "These were... these were her favorite... oh, I haven't seen these in such a long time! They smell just like mother used to," She says to Lenya who had a gentle smile on her lips, "Thank you... thank you for remembering," She says. It had been over a month since she'd told about the flowers and her mother to keep Lenya's mind away from the taint and from the caves they had been at that time, for her to remember... "Thank you," She says again.

"You're welcome, lethallan," Lenya says and touches Leliana's cheek fondly before she returns to the place where she'd been standing earlier. Leliana couldn't have stopped her even if she wanted to. Shock of Lenya remembering the flowers and then the touch on the cheek pretty much rendered her immobile. She could only smell the flowers again and fight back the tears that threatened to escape her eyes.

Leliana did not know how long she just stood there inhaling the scent that reminded her of her mother, but when she finally got her emotions in check, she turned to look at Lenya who was still standing there, staring at the night.

She could stand here and uselessly argue with herself about what to do or she could go and talk to Lenya.

"I enjoy the nights at camp," She finally says and Lenya turns to look at her, "The night always seems more peaceful, to me. Safer," She continues. She knew why that was. It was because she was often with Lenya at nights. She made her feel safe.

"I know what you mean," Lenya says, smiling a little.

"I feel the night gives us reprieve from the troubles of the day. Silly, isn't it?" She smiled as she spoke. She knew she was rambling, but she knew that she couldn't stop herself even if she'd wanted to. She would just have to hope Lenya liked her ramblings, "The darkspawn never sleep and they lurk in the shadows."

"We're all entitled to a little silliness now and then," Lenya says smiling, "Like wanting to hear stories from the surface every night to keep the monsters away," She chuckles at that.

"I enjoyed those nights," She says, "Just standing there together, talking to pass the time in those small hours... well, I talked and you listened, mostly..."

"I love to listen your voice," Lenya says so quietly that Leliana was not even sure she said anything.

"Sometimes I succumb and fall asleep, and wake to find you still watchful and I know you're watching out for me," She says. It had happened few times and she had been mortified at first, but Lenya had just smiled at her and told her that everything was alright.

"You never have to feel afraid with me," Lenya says and she steps closer to her, making the fluttering in her stomach grow more intense. How Lenya affected her so strongly, she had no idea.

"W-what I'm trying to say is... is that I trust you. I'm comfortable around you. I know you'll be there when I need you," _Dear Maker!_ - She thought - She should be good at this, but something in Lenya just made her unable to speak coherently, "You are our... our leader, and my friend and... sometimes I think that m-maybe we could be more than that..." She rambled on, trying not to focus on Lenya's eyes too much or she would be unable to continue, "Maker... look at me, stumbling over my words like ill-educated peasant girl. Some bard I am..." She chuckles.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed," Lenya says smiling a smile that made the blood boil in Leliana's veins. How could she be so...irresistible?

"I'm not embarrassed!" She says defensibly, "I'm just... flushed because... of the... heat," '_Great defense Leliana!'_ - she thought and gave herself a mental head shake - Flushed because of the heat. Brilliant when they were standing in the middle of the forest and the air was chilly.

"Yes..." Lenya says and her voice was different now. It sounded husky and it made Leliana's heartbeat rise, "Because of the heat," Lenya continues and lifts her hand and touches Leliana's cheek, sending electric shock through her body, "I know of the heat..." Lenya says and caresses Leliana's cheek gently, "I've been fighting against it for a sometime now, but there are things you just can't fight," She continues.

"Why...?" She starts, but Lenya puts a finger gently on her lips, silencing her more effectively than if she'd used her whole hand.

"Some time ago, not even very long time ago, I was still in love with another woman. I still am," Lenya says, never stopping the gentle caress of Leliana's cheek, "You know this and I don't think anything will ever change that, but..." She continues and now she hesitated a little, "But recently... recently my dreams and thoughts have been occupied by an another woman, most unlikely woman I could imagine falling for," She says and slight smile touches her lips, "If someone would have told me, some months back, that I would have feelings for a human woman, I would have thought that, that someone was crazy."

Lenya dreamed about her? Leliana's mind was spinning, from Lenya's words and because of her touch on her cheek. Lenya had feelings for her? She'd known that, but hearing her saying it like that made her head spin even more. She was afraid she might faint.

"I don't think friends are what either of us want anymore," Lenya says and now her eyes gained a soft blue glow and a hungry look and then she speaks her own language, "Leliana, ma vhenan'ara," Leliana did not know what that meant, but it felt... significant.

"Really?" Leliana manages to ask, "Y-you made me say all those things! Why couldn't you have said them first? Oh, you... oh, how very awkward..." She knew she was rambling, but there was no stopping now.

"I thought you were comfortable around me," Lenya says, keeping her eyes on hers.

"Well, yes, b-but... d-don't question me!" She manages, "I am a woman and I reserve the right to be inconsistent!" She then declares.

"Yes you are," Lenya smiles. "And you are just too adorable when you are rambling," She then adds and before Leliana could fathom what was happening, Lenya got closer and pulled her head down until their lips met.

Lenya's lips were soft and warm against her own. Her tongue demanding access and after the shock, of the fact that she was really kissing Lenya, wore off, her lips parted and allowed entry and their tongues entered in a battle for dominance. Warm feeling started to spread through her whole body as the kiss deepened and she could feel Lenya's hand stroking her neck, sending waves of pleasure through her body.

After Maker knows how long, Lenya pulled away from the kiss. Her breathing was heavy and her cheeks were flushed. Leliana's own breathing was no better and she could feel the flush on her own cheeks. The kiss had been... amazing.

"Well... I... hmm... that settles it then," Leliana manages.

"Yes," Lenya says and lifts her hand on Leliana's cheek again. The affect, her touch had, had not lessened because of the kiss. Lenya's touch still sent waves of warmth and electricity through her. She lifted her own hand and took Lenya's hand on her own. Then she pressed kiss on Lenya's wrist and could literally feel Lenya's heartbeat and breathing quickening.

"Maybe..." Lenya starts, but stopped to take a deep breath when Leliana pressed another kiss on her wrist. Gently Lenya pulled her hand free and tried to gather her composure, "Maybe... maybe we should go... slowly," She says and looks Leliana in the eyes. Lenya's eyes were glowing brighter now and she could see the desire in them.

"That... is a good idea," Leliana agrees and was about to turn and return to her place, when Lenya pulled her in another kiss. It was slower and less hungry, but no less heart quickening, "Slowly?" She asks when the kiss ends.

"Exactly," Lenya smiles at her and turns to return to her place.

* * *

><p>Rest of the watch went in silence. Neither she nor Leliana spoke, but they did watch each other from time to time. How they managed to time the looks to the exact same times was a mystery to Lenya.<p>

She couldn't shake the kiss from her mind though. One part of her had been sure it couldn't be good since Leliana was a shem, but that part had been silenced now. The kiss had been amazing. Everything you could expect kiss to be and then some.

The mere thought of it made her shiver and turn to look at Leliana. Like before, Leliana was also looking at her.

She had said to Leliana that she wanted to take it slowly. Which was not completely true. Her body wanted nothing to do with the word 'slowly', it ached the feel Leliana's touch again.

It was her mind and heart that were demanding she take it slowly and for now they were still in charge. Her heart was telling her to take it slowly, but it also told her that it wanted Leliana. Ma vhenan'ara was what she'd called Leliana. My heart's desire.

She would need to think of this, but she did not regret anything and she did not doubt, the feelings she had for Leliana, anymore. That doubt had left with the part that had been questioning Leliana because she was a shemlen.

"There you are," Alistair's voice brings her thoughts back to the present and to the fact that she should be guarding the camp. Not mooning after a woman. That thought made her smile, "Uneventful night it seems," Alistair continues.

"Very," Lenya replies and looks at Leliana who grinned at her, "It's been little hot though."

"Hot?" Alistair asks, looking puzzled. "It's almost freezing here," He points out.

"Oh, didn't notice that," She shrugs. "Oh well, try not to freeze then. Come on, lethallan, let's leave these fine young men here to keep us safe."

"Gladly," Leliana says and then they leave towards the camp. Last thing Lenya could hear was Alistair wondering aloud that maybe she was getting sick. She could also feel Zevran's eyes on her back.

She didn't care if Zevran figures it out. They would all know soon enough what was going on. She certainly was not going to hide what was between her and Leliana. She'd had enough hiding her feelings to last a lifetime. Not this time.

That decision firmly on her mind they walked back to the camp and went into their separate tents.

* * *

><p>Something had happened between Lenya and Leliana. Zevran was sure of it. Both women had looked much happier and relaxed than usual, when he and Alistair had come to take the guard shift from them.<p>

And they had been giving those brief looks at each other. Of course they had been doing that for the past month or so, but now they didn't try to hide it.

"Did the women seem different somehow?" Alistair asks, confirming the fact that the women had not been hiding things anymore. Because if Alistair noticed something it was pretty damn obvious.

"Indeed they did, my templar friend," He replies, "Something happened on their watch or I'm not an Antivan Crow."

"Well, technically you aren't an Antivan Crow anymore or are you planning on going back to them?" Alistair asks and there was amused expression on his face. He did not wait for Zevran's answer though, "What happened on their watch can't be anything bad or they would not be so happy," He continues and his brow wrinkled as he thought about the issue.

Zevran sighs as he watched Alistair struggling to figure out what might had happened. The boy was all too innocent with the matters like this. Which was why Lenya seemed to enjoy teasing him.

"I think our gorgeous leader and the chantry sister have been doing something to each other," Zevran tries to give Alistair a hint.

"They like each other! Why would they do something to each other? And they looked happy, why would they be happy if they did something to each other," Alistair asks, looking puzzled.

"My dear Alistair, that kind of innocence can't be real," He chuckles, "It is because they like each other, that they might have done something to each other. We are not speaking of anything bad," He tries again.

"What...?" Alistair starts and then his eyes go wide, "Oh!" He just says and his cheeks turn red.

"I see you finally got it," He laughs, "Would you like me to explain what they could have been doing to each other?" He asks smiling, but didn't wait for Alistair's answer before he continued, "If they start kissing without clothes on, their breasts rub..." He starts, but at that point Alistair sticks his fingers in his ears and goes, "I'm not listening... la-la-la-la-laaah... not listening."

Zevran burst out in a delighted laughter. Alistair was way too easy target for teasing. He had started to grow a bit thicker skin, but it was not yet thick enough.

"You can take your fingers out of your ears, my chaste friend," Zevran says after Alistair had stopped his attempts to stop hearing what he might be saying about Lenya and Leliana. Alistair studied him and very cautiously took his fingers from his ears, "I'm not going to say anything you don't want to hear as the noise you make while trying not to hear, carries quite far, so I'll wait for better opportunity to educate you," Zevran says.

"I don't need any education," Alistair mutters, sounding annoyed.

"I can also find you some books the Chantry has outlawed," Zevran suggest, "I remember this one time when I had to escape through the roofs wearing only my small clothes. I was really lucky, I'll tell you that."

"How is being chased over the roofs considered lucky?" Alistair asks curiously.

"I had time to get my small clothes on before the husband, of the ravishing young lady I was entertaining, broke the door and tried to run me through with his sword," He explains, "Most unfortunate that my daggers were also on the other side of the room or I could have just killed him and return to the embrace of the lady, I was so thoughtlessly driven away. Alas it was not meant to be. The lady was really ravishing."

"Let me get this straight," Alistair says incredulously, "You would have been perfectly fine by killing this woman's husband and then bed her while his husband's body was still cooling in the room?"

"Of course not," He snorts, "I would have moved the body to the other room and then bed the lady," He continues, "I'm not a barbarian you know."

"You really are insufferable," Alistair shakes his head, "But, what does this story has to do with books that the Chantry has outlawed?"

"Lady in question had read a lot of those," He answers happily, "And by Andraste's ass she knew what to do," He sighs and looks dreamily in the sky.

Alistair stared at him for a moment and then shook his head, "Insufferable," Zevran hears him muttering.

Smiling to himself, he returned to entertain himself by imagining all the possible things Lenya and Leliana might have done.

* * *

><p>It had been a really long time since Leliana had slept so well. First she'd thought she would never be able to sleep after what had happened with Lenya, but to her own surprise she had fallen asleep almost instantly.<p>

She did not remember much of her dreams except that Lenya had been in them and that the overall theme of them had been happiness.

She didn't want to get up just yet, so she closed her eyes and brought the events of the night in her mind.

She could only laugh at how she had rambled when she had spoken to Lenya. Something in Lenya just made her a rambling peasant girl. Maybe she turned like that because Lenya seemed to like that.

That thought made her smile. She should be used to such things, since as a bard it was often required to become what the other one liked. This time though, she had not done any of those bard tricks. Her change into a rambling peasant girl had been natural.

Then her mind got to the part where Lenya had pulled her into the kiss and a wave of pleasure went through her body just from the thought of it. She let her mind linger on every detail she could remember. How Lenya's lips had felt against her own, how their tongues had danced together, Lenya's scent; that sunny scent she now knew to be hers, was there. It was almost as intoxicating as the taste of her lips.

When she felt her breath quickening and a sensation she'd not felt for a long time form in her stomach, her eyes snapped open. Mere memory of Lenya seemed to make her body ache in a way that seemed impossible.

Not wanting to strung herself too high, she stretched herself and got up. After dressing herself she stepped out of her tent. Just to be greeted by Lenya, who was sitting near and staring at her tent.

She barely got time to straighten to her full height before Lenya was there, pulling her down into a kiss. There was familiarity in the kiss now and a question; like Lenya was making sure that what had happened at night really had happened.

"Good morning, ma vhenan'ara," Lenya says after the kiss ends.

"Good morning, lethallan," She says and wondered what Lenya had called her. She had used the same words she'd used before their first kiss, "You've been waiting for me?" She then asks.

"I... I had to be sure that what happened really happen," Lenya replies, looking a bit embarrassed, "And that I did not just dream everything," She adds.

"I can understand that," She smiles at Lenya. "Wasn't quite sure of it either," She adds.

"Of course I would have made a huge fool out of myself, if I'd just imagined things and then I go and kiss you without a warning," Lenya chuckles.

"You can make a fool out of yourself by kissing me, anytime you want," She says and brushes her lips against Lenya's in a soft and quick kiss.

"I'll keep that in mind," Lenya smiles.

Leliana had to step away from Lenya or she couldn't be sure what would happen and they were hardly alone. She was sure Zevran wouldn't mind, but others might object.

She turned her head and noticed that pretty much everyone had seen their kiss and found that she did not care if they knew. They were not doing anything that would need to be hidden.

"I take it that we are not going to hide this," She says.

"What was the first clue?" Lenya chuckles, "You know, that I had to keep my relationship with Merrill a secret because of her status as a First. We were not doing anything wrong, but still we had to hide it or it would have affected Merrill. I hated it," She continues with more serious tone, "So no, I will not hide the feelings I have for you and if someone has a problem with it they can stuff it."

"I agree with you, in every sense," Leliana says and touches Lenya's cheek, "So, no hiding,"

"No hiding," Lenya nods.

"And here comes the first to express his opinion or maybe he wants to watch," Leliana says as she saw Zevran approaching them.

"Ah, Zevran," Lenya says and turns to look at the assassin.

* * *

><p>If the morning after did not make it clear enough what had happened between Lenya and Leliana. It became very clear to everyone on the following days as they continued their journey towards Redcliffe. They spent even more time together now and more importantly he saw them kiss, again.<p>

Seeing how happy Lenya was, removed any remnants of the jealousy Alistair had left in him. He never did have any chance with Lenya. Realization of that made him smile. He really was growing up.

However, not everyone was happy with how the things had developed between Lenya and Leliana. Morrigan had scoffed and said Lenya was foolish, but that was pretty much normal for her so it was not unexpected. What was unexpected was that Wynne looked at Lenya and Leliana with a disapproving look on her face. Why would she disapprove what Lenya and Leliana had?

Zevran was his usual self and first thing he did on the following morning was to ask Lenya and Leliana if he could join in with them. Look on Lenya's face had been priceless and then she had patted Zevran's cheek and told him that he was a funny man.

What Sten thought about the things was anyone's guess. He just lifted his brow when he saw Lenya and Leliana share a kiss and then he went to talk with the dog. Alistair would never learn to understand the qunari, no matter how long he would live.

As the days passed everyone seemed to accept this new arrangement between Lenya and Leliana. They still slept in their own tents, but spent most of their waking hours together. Seeing Lenya happy and relaxed made the rest of the group feel better somehow. Maybe it was an 'Enchantment!' as Sandal had put it when he had seen Lenya and Leliana kissing. Then again enchantment was pretty much only word Sandal used so it was hard to say.

Only one who did not seem to share the mood of the group was Wynne. She seemed to become more and more disapproving the more she saw Lenya and Leliana together. It was really baffling.

Maybe he should ask Wynne about it before they got to the Redcliffe. Thinking of Redcliffe of course reminded him, that he really would need to talk with Lenya about things like who his father was. He really did not wait that conversation with any sort of enthusiasm. Not even when Lenya seemed to be happy.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is Chapter 23. Significant chapter for Lenya and Leliana.**

**Not much to say about this chapter. Fluff and happy themes and romance progressing, finally. :)**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Chapter 24 is done. Party is getting closer to Redcliffe.**

**I wish to thank all of you who have read this far. Special thanks to those who have fave/alerted and extra special thanks to those who have reviewed. Your feedback and positive words mean a lot to me. :)**

**And as always, my eternal gratitude for continued encouragement and support goes to Faelan.**

**Huge thanks to Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Things you don't recognize are mine and Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p>Two weeks after they left Orzammar they were getting closer to Redcliffe. At least that's what Alistair said. Lenya was a bit skeptical about that since Alistair so often said that he couldn't lead and if he would, he would just get lost.<p>

After Deep Road's and the constant danger of darkspawn in there, their journey to Redcliffe was like a vacation. Only once had they sensed darkspawn and they found and killed the small group. They also got attacked by bandits once, if you could call the sorry bunch of misfit bandits that is.

It still baffled Lenya how someone could be so stupid and attack a heavily armed group like theirs, with only ten bandits. Shale alone could kill ten bandits and not even notice the damned idiots.

Aside from those two little incidents the past week had been best since she and Tamlen had decided to go to that damn cave where the cursed mirror had been.

Who could have guessed that a human woman could make her happy? She, herself, certainly couldn't. She enjoyed Leliana's company a lot more now since she'd stopped trying to deny she had feelings towards Leliana.

Most of their group were happy for her and Leliana or didn't care one way or the other, but there was one that looked increasingly disapproving, Wynne.

Lenya didn't have a faintest idea what the old mages problem was.

"Should we start looking for a campsite?" Alistair asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Already?" Lenya lifted her brow, "Sun isn't setting for a few hours."

"I recognize the surrounding area and if we continue traveling few more hours we arrive to Redcliffe and I would rather go there in the morning than at night," Alistair explained.

"You're learning," Lenya smiled and then added, "No one wants to have a surprise nightly visitors."

"I don't know," Zevran said behind them, "Nightly visitors can be entertaining."

"I'm sure you enjoy them, but I'll kiss Oghren if you weren't the nightly visitor yourself most of those times," Lenya chuckled.

"Ah... you got me there, my dear Warden," Zevran laughed.

"I'm so glad, because it means I don't have to kiss Oghren," Lenya laughed.

"You don't know what you're missing, Warden," Oghren said, "Once you go ol' Oghren, you'll never go back."

"That is, perhaps the most terrifying thing I've ever heard," Lenya said, she was tempted to mention that Branka had a woman lover after him, but it was perhaps too soon. Oghren was acting like what happen to Branka did not affect him, but Lenya had seen him staring at nothing with tears in his eyes when he thought no one was seeing.

"Your loss," Oghren grined at her and took a gulp from his flask, "How about you? Wanna kiss ol' Oghren?" He turned to Morrigan.

"Only thing you can get from me, dwarf, is your beard on fire," Morrigan scoffed.

"Women!" Oghren said and took another gulp from his flask. "Are we sodding camping or standing here until it's morning?" He then asked.

"I guess we are camping or at least we need to find a place to do that," Lenya said.

"I know a place not far from here," Alistair said. "Follow me."

"You heard the man," Lenya said, "Follow Alistair."

"You know, that I just might lead us to the forest and get us lost in there?" Alistair asked smiling.

"I know," She nodded, "Exciting isn't it?"

"Sure… I _always_ wanted to go into the history books as a 'Warden responsible of getting lost and dooming Ferelden to be destroyed by the Blight'," Alistair laughed.

"Worry not, I have a long twine I can tie to you and it can lead us back to the road."

"How comforting."

* * *

><p>To even his own surprise, Alistair was right and there really was a good place nearby for setting up camp.<p>

After they got the camp set up, everyone scattered to do their part of the chores. It was Lenya's turn to rest first so she was sitting alone at the fire. That usually did not stop her from following Leliana, but this time she had decided not to. She wanted to just sit and think for a change.

When she saw Wynne approaching her, it seemed that Wynne had been waiting for a moment when Lenya was alone. She had been staring at her more and more; always with that disapproving look on her face.

Lenya also saw that Alistair moved closer and was trying to be sneaky about it. He could be many things, but sneaky wasn't one of them.

"You are quite taken with each other, aren't you?" Wynne asked.

Lenya turned to look at Wynne and lifted her brow, wondering what Wynne was up to, "And here I thought we've been hiding it so well," She said sarcastically.

"I've noticed your blossoming relationship and I wanted to ask you where you thought it was going." Wynne said.

Was? Lenya thought confused. Wynne spoke of her relationship with Leliana like it was already over.

"Leliana is a remarkable girl, sincere and guileless, and she has opened her heart for you. I would not like to see her hurt," Wynne continued before Lenya had time to say anything.

"I'd never hurt Leliana," Lenya said and started to get a bit angry. It was normal for her to get annoyed when she spoke with Wynne. They only rarely saw things the same way and Wynne always thought that she was right. Anger was something new though.

"Not intentionally, no. But there is great potential for tragedy here, for one or both of you," Wynne said, "You are a Grey Warden. You have responsibilities which supersedes your personal desires."

_By the Creators! The old hag was again preaching duty for her_, Lenya thought, Like she was some child who would not even know how to do her duty. Her field of vision flashed blue and she tried to reign in her anger. It was not easy.

"I am perfectly capable of handling my responsibilities and my relationships," She said and she could feel the coldness in her own voice even though she'd tried to hide it.

Wynne, of course, missed or just plainly ignored the coldness, and continued her preaching, "Love is ultimately selfish. It demands that one be devoted to a single person, who may fully occupy one's mind and heart, to the exclusion of all else," Wynne's voice had that teaching tone she always used when she thought she was right and everyone else was wrong, "A Grey Warden cannot afford to be selfish. You may be forced to make a choice between saving your love or everyone else, and then what would you do?"

"I do my duty," She said, her anger barely contained, but Wynne seemed not to listen.

"Nothing is certain, not in these times. You cannot take anything for granted. I want you to be aware of this," Wynne preached on.

"I'm old enough to think for myself, thank you very much!" Lenya said and now she didn't even try to hide the coldness in her voice.

"Obviously not, if you think that this... fling of yours is going to endure." Wynne said with that condescending voice of hers. That made Lenya's anger flare in full bloom. After everything she'd endured to fulfill the duty Marethari had set before her... this... this damn Shem talked to her like she had never even held the sword in her hand.

"Who are you to lecture me of my duty?" Lenya asked, gritting her teeth, "I have sacrificed more than you miserable Shem could even understand!" She snarled. "In the name of duty I killed my whole clan in the Beyond, I held my lover's body in my arms as she died from the wound I caused. All that, I did because it's my duty. What did you do in the Beyond? How did you fulfill your duty? Oh, right, I forgot, you didn't. You just stood there, drowning on your own damn guilt and were going to just wait until you died there," She saw Wynne through a blue haze now. Her eyes must be blazing, "And now you come to me and tell me that I should not love someone just because I might lose her someday? That I should live alone and pretty much in misery until the taint finally kills me in thirty years or so?" Her voice was now so much beyond freezing that it was burning. "Until you have killed everyone you have ever loved, in the name of duty, you have no right to tell me anything about how I do my duty," She finally said and walked past the shocked mage and into the surrounding forest. She sensed Abelas behind her and also sensed his worry for her.

* * *

><p>The whole camp had fell in shocked silence after Lenya's departure. Alistair was horrified of what he'd learned. Only thought going through his mind was - Lenya had been forced to kill her whole clan in the Fade!<p>

They had all known that Lenya had experienced bad things in the Fade, but this? This was a lot worse than he'd ever imagined. How could someone survive something like that?

"Truly great work, school mistress," Morrigan said and everything be damned, but Alistair agreed with her this time, "Would you like to impart your wisdom to other ones as well?" She asked and then left towards her own fire.

Only after Morrigan's departure Alistair noticed that everyone in the camp had witnessed the confrontation between Lenya and Wynne.

He watched around and when he saw Leliana, his heart dropped. There was profound sadness and horror in Leliana's expression. She had found out more of what it meant to be a Grey Warden. Alistair wished she would have not found out about it like this. He nodded towards the way Lenya had left. Leliana nodded and departed.

"She is truly a wonder," Zevran just said and there was a new respect in his voice.

"Yes, she is," Alistair nodded, "Everyone go do what you should be doing," He ordered then, before he turned his attention to Wynne who seemed to be still shocked. Big part of Alistair was saying to him that it was only just that Wynne was shocked. Rest of him was shocked about the other part, "I recommend that you stay far away from Lenya for now. I don't think she would kill you, but I don't want to take any chances. I would hate to lose our healer like that," He said to Wynne before he turned around and left the mage alone.

* * *

><p>Following Lenya was easy. She did not even try to move unnoticeable, so Leliana found more than enough signs of her passing.<p>

As she followed Lenya, her mind was racing. Lenya had only thirty years to live, she thought, '_What does this mean for us_?', Question appeared, '_Is there even a 'us'__?_' Another question, which got a reply immediately, '_Yes, there i__s'_, Lenya had told Wynne that she loved her. Well, basically she had said she loved someone, but since they were talking about her and Lenya's relationship it meant Lenya loved her, didn't it?

Another thought demanded her attention. In case of saving the world or saving her, Lenya would save the world. That made her angry at... what? A world? Lenya? Then she shook her head. She had known Lenya's dedication to the things she considered her duty. She had known what Lenya had done in the Fade and it had not mattered one bit to her.

So what was different now then, because it was her and not Merrill or Lenya's Clan? That was most likely it. _'What do you want Lenya to do?'_, she asked from herself, _' Change, so she would put Leliana ahead of her duty_? _That would destroy who Lenya was and it could destroy the world or doom it to the Blight_,' Small part of her thought that if it meant Lenya and she could be together, it was worth it, but it was only a small part. If she would demand Lenya to change, it would destroy who Lenya was. It would destroy the woman she had fell in love with.

Low growl brought her to a halt. She recognized the growl, but before she had time to reassure Abelas that she was not trying to hurt his mistress, Lenya did it, "It's Leliana you silly, not the stupid hag who thinks she knows everything better than anyone else does," Lenya's voice came from nearby.

"Lenya..." Leliana started, but she didn't know how or probably even what she was going to say.

"I'm alright, Leliana," Lenya said and dropped down from the nearby tree, scaring Leliana a bit, "Angry at the old hag, but alright."

"What you said..." Leliana started, still not knowing how to even began.

"You have to be more specific, lethallan," Lenya smiled, "I said a lot of things to the hag,"

"Is... is it true what you said about having thirty years to live?" She managed to ask.

"Yes... yes it is. The taint is a death sentence and being a Warden only slows it down," Lenya replied in a matter of fact voice that made Leliana want to cry. How could Lenya be so calm about it! Tears threatened to obscure her view, but then she could feel Lenya's hand on her cheek, "Lethallan, it's alright."

"No... no, it is not alright," Leliana said, "You are going to die."

"Yes, I am going to die, but so does everyone," Lenya said, "The fact that I know roughly when I die, if I don't die in battle before that, does not change anything and even then its decades more than I would have had without becoming a Warden."

"Why are you so damn sensible about it? Why aren't you mad that your life is shortened like that?" Leliana demanded. Lenya's sensible attitude made her angry.

"What would that accomplish lethallan?" Lenya asked, "Is it unfair that I only have thirty years to live? Of course it is, but I can't do anything about it and it is still thirty years more than I would have had," She said, "So, I am not going to mope around just because I know, that I eventually die from the taint or more likely die attacking hordes of darkspawn in the Deep Roads in one glorious last battle. Which is apparently some kind of tradition for the Grey Wardens," She continued and then she took Leliana's hands on hers, "The old hag was right on the fact that I may hurt you even though I don't mean to."

"And how would it be any different if you would live for a hundred years and die of an old age?" Leliana asked, "I would still be hurting about it or I would die first and then you would be hurting about it,"

"Fair point," Lenya nodded, "Now that we are agreeing about that, you can move to the question that really bothers you."

"Am I that easy to read?" She asked, she couldn't help herself; mainly because if she was that easy to read she was not the bard she thought she was.

"Only to me I'd imagine," Lenya smiled, "And I have an advantage. I know what you heard me saying to that hag."

"Oh," She managed and then lifted her eyes to Lenya's, "If it would become to saving the world or me...?" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"I didn't lie to Wynne, lethallan," Lenya said seriously, "I will do my duty and save the world, but..."

"But, what?" Leliana demanded.

"But I would expect you to save yourself and if you could not. Well, then I, if you don't mind me for being overly dramatic, would follow you after the world is safe," Lenya said and then her expression changed to... fearful or perhaps resigned, "I do understand if you don't want to continue what we have," She only said.

She should have expected Lenya to offer this, a way out for her, but it still came as a complete surprise, "Lenya, I knew what I was getting into. Remember, that I knew what you did in the Fade and I still fell for you. I fell in love with the woman who will save the world, not the woman who will let it burn to the ground."

"Even if it means that I would choose to save the world instead of you?" Lenya asked.

"Even if it means that," Leliana said, "If you don't save the world, then what kind of life would we even have?"

"Very crappy one," Lenya sighed and then she took Leliana's face between her hands and stared into her eyes, "Whatever the hag said, this... you are not a fling to me."

"I know," Leliana said and she did. It was not in Lenya's character to do such things and as a Dalish she was already distrustful of humans so the mere thought that she would hook up with a human just to have a... fling was pretty much impossible.

As Lenya held her head between her hands Leliana could only see Lenya's eyes and what she saw in them sent a shock through her and made her move forward and kiss Lenya.

When the kiss finally ended they were both out of breath. "So, we are okay?" Lenya asked.

"After a kiss like that you really have to ask?" She lifted her brow.

"Not really, but after kiss like that my brains lack oxygen and my mind isn't working," Lenya chuckled.

She kissed Lenya on the cheek and then stepped backwards. She thought about asking if Lenya had meant the 'love someone' part, but then decided not to. Lenya would tell her when she was ready. "Is there anything else, like thirty years lifespan, I should know about the Wardens?"

"Well, there is the slightly increased appetite," Lenya shrugged.

"Slightly?" She asked and laughed, "You eat three or four times what the rest of us do."

"I know!" Lenya yelped, "It's a good thing that it doesn't affect my figure or I would be a balloon by now."

"But I bet you would be a lovely balloon," She smiled.

"Flatterer," Lenya chuckled.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"Only one thing, but that doesn't affect me anyway," Lenya replied, "Well, only one thing Alistair knew, but as you have noticed he doesn't know much of the Wardens either."

"So, what is this one thing he did know?" She asked. She didn't like it when Lenya circled the topic like that.

"It is impossible or very hard, Alistair was not sure of which, for the Wardens to get children," Lenya said, "As I said, it doesn't affect me anyway, since even before I became a Warden it would have required some kind of magic for me to get pregnant with a woman."

"You've never wanted children of your own?" She asked.

"I've never actually thought about it," Lenya shrugged, "Merrill and I never talked about having kids or if either of us even wanted kids," She continued, "Of course Clan always has expectations for the First to have children since preserving magic in our Keepers is important, but it's not forced on them."

"It did make you two having a relationship more difficult, didn't it?" Leliana asked.

"A bit, but if we would have announced it, they would have accepted it," Lenya said, "Well, most would have. There is always someone who thinks it's wrong, but as long the Keeper approves, it is accepted by the Clan," She continued, "Anyway, the Clan would have been more concerned about Merrill's training as a First than that she loves an another woman," She shrugged.

"Why is that?" Leliana asked.

"Because I am considered to be too wild," Lenya chuckled, "Bad influence for the innocent First," She added, "Ha, innocent! If they only knew how innocent their First really is," She laughed and then suddenly she fell silent, "Damn!" She muttered.

"What is it?" Leliana asked worriedly.

"I said their First," Lenya sighed, "Not our First, which implies that..." She sighed again.

"Which implies that you are not thinking that you are one of them anymore," Leliana said and Lenya nodded. "I'm... I'm sorry," She didn't know what else to say.

"Don't be, it's not your fault and... and this was what I wanted when I did the burial rites for them after the events in the Beyond," Lenya said, "It was just shocking to notice that it had actually worked," She sighed, "Not sure if I should be happy or sad about it or both."

"I would say, both," Leliana said, "You are moving on and that is always healthy," She smiled at Lenya.

"When you are speaking of moving on, are you speaking of Merrill or my Clan?" Lenya asked.

"I think that would apply to both," Leliana said and kissed Lenya slightly on the lips, "Don't you agree?"

"You don't fight fairly, do you?" ,Lenya chuckled, "But yes, my sneaky bard, I think you are correct and it does apply to both," She then sighed and her expression changed serious, "I don't really know what to think anymore, I feel happy when I'm with you, but also guilty because it is happening so fast. It's been only months after all. I shouldn't forget Merrill so fast!"

"Lenya," Leliana said gently, "You are not forgetting her, you can't, since she will always be a part of you and I wouldn't be so worried about how fast things happen since you have done probably a year's worth of work during these months," She said seriously, "You were thrust, without a warning or time to adjust, into the center of the events that are so much bigger than what you're used to, you almost died at Ostagar and was saved by a woman from the legends, you are uniting different races in a way that has not been done since the last Blight. Your life is constantly in danger. You are doing things most people deem impossible," She couldn't keep the awe away from her voice. What Lenya had accomplished already was nothing sort of miracle.

"It's my duty," Lenya said quietly and lowered her eyes to the ground. It was like she was embarrassed of her praises.

It is her duty, Leliana thought, if there was something like embodiment of duty it must look like Lenya. Her Keeper told her that becoming a Grey Warden was her duty and she fully embraced that.

And then Wynne goes to question Lenya's ability to do that duty because she had shown feelings towards Leliana. For someone presumably wise Wynne lacked ability to read and understand Lenya.

"What I tried to say was that you have experienced so much in a very short time, that it is not a wonder that everything seem to happen fast," She finally said.

"Yes, I know you are right," Lenya sighed, "It is just hard sometimes when I start to think about it."

"I would question your character if you didn't have doubts now and then. Especially with something so important as this is," Leliana said.

"You really are too kind," Lenya rolled her eyes, "I'm talking about my former love and how I still have feelings for her and you say it's just natural and alright," She shook her head.

"That's because you have never tried to hide anything," Leliana said, "You have always been completely honest with me, about everything, even with the unpleasant things," She pointed out. After all the lies and deceptions that had surrounded most of Leliana's adult life, Lenya's honesty was something to be treasured. Lenya would never hurt her.

That made her think about the fact that she had not been completely honest with Lenya though. Lenya still did not know truly why Leliana had come to Ferelden.

"Merrill used to tease me because of that," Lenya smiled, "I can keep things secret, like my relationship with Merrill, I didn't like it, but I kept it secret, but if someone would have come to ask me that 'are you and Merrill together?'. I would have probably answered yes. There are times when I can lie convincingly, but those are rare," She explained, "Though, being like that really does not help when you have 'get into all sorts of trouble' nature like mine."

"Yes, I can see how that could be inconvenient," Leliana nodded and then she heard something, like a low rumbling sound, "Hungry?" She asked from Lenya.

"Starving," Lenya replied and blushed a little.

"Let's go see if there is any food for you then," Leliana suggested. Talking about her past would need to wait for now, but she promised to herself that she would tell everything to Lenya soon.

"And hope it's not made by Alistair," Lenya shivered, "Thank you for being here for me, Ma Vhenan'ara," She then said and turned to look at Leliana.

"Always, Lenya," She smiled, "But you have to tell me what does ma vhenen'ara mean?"

"Do I now?" Lenya smiled back at her and then leaned closer to her and whispered to her ear, "My heart's desire," Leliana felt Lenya's breath on her ear and it made her shiver, "Come then," Lenya stepped away from her and nodded towards the camp.

"You…truly are evil," Leliana smiled, still shivering.

"Horrible isn't it?" Lenya laughed as they started to walk back to the camp.

She had to chuckle at that.

* * *

><p>When Alistair saw Lenya and Leliana returning to the camp he let out a relieved sigh. Lenya looked alright and what he could feel through the taint told him that Lenya was not angry anymore.<p>

"Are you...?" He started when the women got closer.

"I'm alright," Lenya replied, "And I'm not going to kill Wynne... yet anyway," She continued.

"You... I mean... In the Fade," He started, but didn't know what to say.

"What I did in the Beyond was the hardest thing I've ever done," Lenya said calmly, "Killing everyone I've ever known and loved... I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I was glad I could prevent that from happening to the rest of you, even for Wynne," She continued and gave a brief look on Wynne when she mentioned her, "Next day, I buried them in the forest clearing."

'_So that had been what she'd been doing in the forest when she'd driven Wynne away and only Leliana had been brave enough to go to her__'_, Alistair thought_,'It was no wonder that the women had started to become closer after that__.'_

"But, they are not really dead," Alistair said looking puzzled when his brains got up to the 'I buried them' part.

"No. They are not, but knowing that does not make the memory of me, killing them feel any less real though," Lenya replied, "When I buried them I realised, that I could never go back to them, ever. Not after what I did to them," She continued and then her voice gained strength, "I am a Grey Warden and the only thing I can do for them now is to defeat the Blight so it won't threaten them."

"It is your duty," Alistair said and Lenya nodded. He understood that they had to stop the Blight and it was their duty to do it, but the way Lenya said that it was her duty, felt so much stronger than what he could even imagine duty being. Lenya was what people meant when they spoke of the Grey Wardens, "You are amazing," He said finally, "I don't know how you do what you do, but you are amazing."

"It is my duty, Alistair," Lenya simply said, "But thank you," She added smiling.

Alistair sighs. How Lenya made it so simple was beyond his understanding. It also meant that he could not avoid telling Lenya about his father anymore.

"Alistair, why do you look all the sudden like you are about to do something extremely unpleasant?" Lenya asked, making him wince. He should know Lenya well enough already, that he shouldn't be surprised when she saw through him.

"Well..." He started and then sighed, "Look, I need to tell you something I…ah…should probably have told you earlier," He continued.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Lenya asked and tilted her head a little.

"I don't know," He said, "I doubt it. I've never liked it, that's for sure," He added.

"Okay, just tell me what it is," Lenya said and walked to the campfire. She sat down and motioned him to do the same. Leliana left them alone after kissing Lenya on the cheek.

When Alistair was sitting as well, he drew a deep breath and started to tell everything about his father and how Arl Eamon had raised him. He ended his explanation on the note that Cailan was his half-brother.

"So... you're not just a bastard, but a Royal bastard?" Lenya said when he stopped speaking.

"Ha! Yes, I guess it does at that. I should use that line more often," He smiled at Lenya, but he also knew that he would not get off from this that easily, "I would have told you, but... it never really meant anything to me. I was inconvenient, a possible threat to Cailan's rule and so they kept me a secret. I've never talked about it to anyone," He explained, he wanted Lenya to believe him that he did not keep it a secret because he didn't trust Lenya, "Everyone who knew either resented me for it or they coddled me... even Duncan kept me out of the fighting because of it. I didn't want you to know, as long as possible. I am sorry," He finished and tried to look any sign from Lenya's face of what she was thinking. She was too good at hiding what she was thinking though.

"All the time you've been with me have you seen me treating nobles differently than others?" Lenya asked after a short silence, "To me human king is just another Shem who doesn't care about my people. As long as you keep doing your duty, I don't give a damn about you being a son of a King," She continued before he had time to answer to her question. She was right though. Lenya treated every human the same way, regardless of their status. Humans were not to be trusted and only after you won or if you won her trust she started to treat you differently, "You still should have told me about this."

"You're right. I should have. It's brought me nothing but problems, to be honest," He sighed, "At any rate that's it. That's what I had to tell you. I thought you should know about it."

"You're heir to the throne, then?" Lenya asked. He could see the strategist in her kicking in and it made him sigh. Lenya might not treat him any differently because of this, but she would include this on her plans to defeat the Blight. He could not fault her for that because she was just doing her duty.

"Let's hope not. I'm the son of a commoner, and a Grey Warden to boot. It was made very clear to me early on that there was no room for me raising any rebellions or such nonsense," He said, even though he knew it to be futile if Lenya would find a way to use this to their advantage, "And that's fine by me. No, if there's heir to be found, it's Arl Eamon himself. He's not royal blood, but he is Cailan's uncle... and more importantly, very popular with the people," He tried to sway Lenya's mind off from his importance, but also knew it to be futile. Lenya did not know Eamon so she did not trust him and because of that, he was not yet included in her plans for the Blight.

"We'll see," Lenya just said, "Soon."

"I guess we will," Alistair nodded, "Anyway, there you have it. Now can we move on, and I'll pretend you still think... I'm some... nobody who was too lucky to die with the rest of the Grey Wardens."

"And what does that make me?" Lenya asked and lifted her brow.

"The reason why I say I was lucky," He replied without hesitation, making Lenya look surprised and then turn around, trying to hide her emotions from him. She couldn't hide them from feeling through the taint though, not when she was so close.

"Thank you," Lenya said, before leaving.

He stared after her until she disappeared in her tent, "Well, that went better than I expected," He muttered and turned around, just to bump into Leliana, who stared at him questioningly, "You should take food for her. She forgot to eat," He just said to her, before he left to his own tent.

* * *

><p>When they continued their journey next day, it was almost wordless agreement between Leliana and Alistair to keep Wynne away from Lenya. Leliana was sure that Lenya would not kill the old mage, but neither she nor Alistair wanted to risk it.<p>

"You don't have to keep her away from me, you know," Lenya said finally when Alistair had diverted Wynne away, "I am not going to kill her or even beat her senseless just because she's an idiot," Lenya continued.

"We kind of don't want to risk it," Leliana said, "She's the only healer we have."

"I know and that is why she is still with us and not standing somewhere along the road to Orzammar," Lenya nodded, "Even though she really, really gets on my nerves. Remember how you tried to make me believe that your chantry is not as bad as I think it is?" She asked then.

"Uhm... Yes," Leliana nodded, "I also remember that you didn't like that at all and that I didn't have any luck on getting you to believe what I was saying."

"Well, Wynne annoys me more than you ever did," Lenya said.

"How's that even possible?" She asked. Lenya really had not liked her attempts of making her see the Chantry as something good. Like Leliana herself saw it.

"Even though you were really adamant on making me believe in the goodness of the Chantry, you never said I was wrong when I said that it isn't. You wanted to make me see it like you do, but never told me that I was wrong," Lenya said, "As far as Wynne is concerned, she is never wrong and I am constantly wrong. I don't know anything and she knows everything and I'm some sort of unruly child who needs constant hand holding so I can't botch things too badly," Lenya continued and Leliana could feel the anger rise in Lenya as she spoke, "Remember her story about how Grey Wardens saved the armies of the Kingdoms of man? The one where armies didn't lose any men because the Grey Wardens shielded them from harm?" Lenya asked suddenly.

"Yes, I also remember you asking if it has griffons in it just to annoy her," Leliana smiled.

"Yes, that one," Lenya nodded, "It was meant to teach me that my duty is to shield others from harm the darkspawn can cause," She continued, "She tells me this and she has no idea what it means to be a Grey Warden, what sacrifices we actually make to battle the Blights. She preaches duty to me even though she has no idea what that even means."

"But you do?" Leliana asked.

"Yes," Lenya replied, "Wynne has the sugar coated view of the Wardens, that it is our duty to protect those who can't protect themselves or even the armies in her story, but what she does not understand is that in the name of the duty Wardens would sacrifice all those armies, if that would be needed. She thinks us heroes and I don't blame her for that as it seem to be general opinion of the Wardens, but we do whatever it takes to defeat the Blight," She continued, "I know that relationship like ours will be making the difficult choices harder, but without attachment like that, I don't think any Wardens would give a damn about the world we are supposed to save."

Leliana did not quite know what to say. She was sure that her views of the Wardens were as sugar coated as Wynne's was. How they saved the world like heroes in the tales did. Traveling with Lenya and Alistair was destroying a lot of those views about the Wardens, but it also explained a lot of things she had wondered about them. She would have never ever imagined all the things she now knew about the Wardens. It was very sobering experience.

Lenya sighed and then shook her head, bringing Leliana back from her thoughts "Let's talk about something else. Thinking about what Wynne said just makes me angry and I would prefer not to spend all my day raging about it," Lenya said.

"What do you want to talk about?" Leliana asked after a short silence.

"Would you believe that we have a prince in our midst," Lenya said.

"We have a what?" Leliana asked and looked Lenya like she was crazy and then before Lenya had time to answer she asked, "And who?"

"A prince," Lenya grinned, "As for who, it's our shy templar," She continued.

"Alistair?" Leliana asked incredulously. She liked Alistair, but a prince was not a title she would have applied to him.

"Yep," Lenya nodded, "Apparently this King Maric liked to fool around with the serving girls," She added, "And as a result of that fooling around…we have a reluctant templars."

"Lenya!" She exclaimed, horrified, "You can't speak about King Maric like that, he's a hero."

"Not my hero," Lenya shrugged, "Anyway, Alistair is not happy about it and was really, really reluctant when he told me about it. I guess he is afraid that I'm going to start bowing down on him or something," She laughed.

"Did you bow down to King Cailan?" Leliana asked.

"By the Creators, No!" Lenya gave her a look that told Leliana, Lenya was thinking she was out of her mind, "I don't bow down to Shems. Not even important Shems."

"I thought as much," Leliana nodded, "So why does he think you would start with him?"

"No idea," Lenya shrugged again, "He might also be scared of what I will do now that I know about that."

"Not sure I follow," Leliana said.

"He's afraid I might use this against Loghain and his daughter," Lenya explained, "And he would be right in that,"

"You would do that to him?" Leliana asked incredulously.

"Lethallan, I killed my clan to do my duty. So what makes it so odd that I would use Alistair's heritage to our advantage?" Lenya asked and it really should have not come as a surprise to her that Lenya would think like that. She was very practical after all.

"Point taken," She said and they continued walking in silence.

"Well, look at that," Lenya said when they came across a sign that said Redcliffe, "Alistair actually was right and we were close to the village,"

"Hey!" They heard Alistair protesting behind them. Lenya smiled at that, but then her expression changed serious.

"What it is?" Leliana asked and scanned the surrounding area, trying to see whatever it was that had made Lenya change like that.

"I can feel traces of the Beyond all around the village," Lenya replied and she was really not happy about what she was feeling.

"I feel it too," Alistair nodded and Leliana saw that Morrigan and Wynne were both nodding and looking strained.

"I hate demons," Lenya muttered. No one was brave enough to say to her that it might not be demons why the Fade was close and chances that it was demons was quite high after all. "Let's get going and see what damn problem we need to solve this time," Lenya said and continued to walk towards the village.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Chapter 24.**

**Not much to say about this. In the beginning I was planning on doing Wynne's duty speech later, but that would have meant that I'd have to wait until Redcliffe is done and I don't think Wynne is the kind of woman who would wait too long to go and speak her mind. So I decided to do it now.**

**And because of Wynne, Lenya and Leliana had to have a chat.**

**I promise the main plot will go ahead on the next chapter. :)**

**I hope you have enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Chapter 25 and non traveling chapter for a change. Redcliffe awaits.**

**Thank you everyone who has read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted and very special thanks to those who have reviewed.**

**My eternal gratitude goes for Faelan for all the support and encouragement.**

**Huge thanks to Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Things you don't recognize are mine and Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p>When they approached the bridge that led to the village of Redcliffe, they saw a man holding a bow standing there. His face seemed to brighten when he saw them approaching.<p>

"If he doesn't say that they have a problem and they need our help in fixing it, I'm a Shem," Lenya said. She really started to suspect that the whole damn country had decided to go nuts and that for some odd reason it wanted her to fix everyone's problems.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about in that regard," Leliana said.

"I have a wonder," Morrigan said and joined the conversation, "Does the troubles follow you or you follow the troubles?"

"Probably both," Lenya smiled at the witch, "We are so blessed," She shrugged.

"I... I thought I saw travelers coming down the road, though I scarcely believed it," The man at the bridge said when they got closer, "Have you come to help us?" He then asked.

"Well, a good thing is that I'm not a Shem, but the bad thing is that I was right," Lenya sighed, "What do you need me to do?" She then asked from the man.

"What?" The man seemed confused.

"What our leader wants to know is, that what seems to be the problem here," Alistair said.

"So you... don't know?" The man asked and the air seemed to drain out of him, "Has nobody out there heard?" He asked before anyone had chance to answer to his first question.

"I doubt it," Lenya said, "There's this nasty civil war going on and all you shems seem to focus on that," She continued.

"We heard the news about the King and all the fighting," The man said, "That was before everything started here."

"So, what exactly is happening here?" Alistair wanted to know.

"We're under attack. Monsters come out of the castle every night and attack us until dawn," The man explained, "Everyone's been fighting... and dying," He continued, "We've no army to defend us, no arl and no King to send us help," He seemed to get smaller as he spoke. His will to fight was slowly draining out of him and if Lenya was any judge it would not be long before he would give up completely and just wait for the death to claim him, "So many are dead, and those left are terrified they're next," He sighed.

"Hold on," Alistair said, "What is this evil that's attacking you?"

"I... I don't rightly know; I'm sorry. Nobody does," The man replied, "I should take you to Bann Teagan. He's all that's holding us together. He'll want to see you," He continued and his face seemed to brighten again.

"Bann Teagan?" Alistair asked, "Arl Eamon's brother? He's here?"

"Yes, it's not far, if you'll come with me," The man said.

"Just once it would be nice to go somewhere and just have people willing to just say 'sure, we are able to help you' without having to fight hordes of evil monsters," Lenya muttered as they followed the man to the village of Redcliffe.

"You would get bored if that ever happen," Zevran laughed.

"Maybe," She smiled.

* * *

><p>When their guide approached the Chantry Alistair hesitated. Bringing Lenya inside the chantry was not probably a good idea.<p>

"I promise, I don't kill any priests," Lenya said and let out a small laugh.

"Somehow that doesn't assure me when you laugh like that after saying it," He sighed.

"I didn't kill any priests in Lothering," Lenya pointed out.

"That could just be luck," Alistair muttered when they stepped inside the Chantry.

The Chantry was full of people, mainly women and children. The air was thick with fear and desperation. It was clear that these people were very near of losing hope or in some cases already lost it.

They got more than few curious stares and even though their group had a qunari and a golem in it, Lenya and Zevran got most of the stares and caused most of the fearful reactions. How could people be so blind? - He thought, Lenya or Zevran had done nothing to these people, but still they feared them, just because they were armed elves.

"Focus, Alistair," Leliana said behind him and only then he noticed that they had stopped in front of a man, who he knew to be Bann Teagan.

"It's... Tomas; yes?" Teagan said to the man who had brought them here, "And who are these people with you? They're obviously not simple travelers," He added and studies Lenya and then the rest of them. Slight widening of his eyes was the only reaction Alistair saw on Teagan when he took in the composition of their group.

"No, my lord. They just arrived, and I thought you would want to see them," The man, Tomas, replied and bowed a little.

"Well done, Tomas," Teagan said to the man and then turned to address them, Alistair saw that Teagan had problems of figuring out who was the leader of their group. Lenya's presence told him that Lenya was the leader, but Teagan's upbringing fought the notion of elf leading if humans were present. In the end he ended trying to greet them all without clearly insulting Lenya, quite a feat actually, "Greetings, friends. My name is Teagan, Bann of Rainesfere, brother to the arl," He said.

"I remember you, Bann Teagan, though the last time we met I was a lot younger and... covered in mud," Alistair said and heard Leliana gasp behind him and sensed Lenya's eyes on him. Only then he understood what he'd done, he had assumed the lead by speaking before Lenya and it could look like he didn't trust Lenya because it was nobles that were speaking now; like Lenya was some savage. In light of what he'd told Lenya about his father, this could look really bad.

"Covered in mud?" Teagan said, preventing him of correcting his mistake, not that he even knew if it even was possible anymore, "...Alistair? It is you, isn't it?" Teagan continued and when Alistair nodded Teagan's face brightened, "You're alive! This is wonderful news!"

Alistair waited a bit to see if Lenya would take the lead back now, but she showed no inclination of doing so. He sighed inwardly and then spoke, "Still alive, yes, though not for long if Teyrn Loghain has anything to say about it."

"Indeed. Loghain would have us all believe all Grey Wardens died along with my nephew, amongst other things," Teagan said.

"I wonder what new things the stupid bastard has said to be our fault," Lenya said and Teagan turned to look at her.

Alistair saw a way to correct his mistake, "Teagan, this is our leader, Lenya Mahariel," That made Teagan's eyes widen and Lenya let out an annoyed growl. She obviously didn't like how he introduced her, but he had no idea what in his introduction was wrong. Maybe it was his use of Lenya's surname?

"So..." Teagan started and finally turned his attention fully at Lenya, "You're a Grey Warden as well?" He asked and Lenya nodded, "Pleasure to meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances."

Lenya only nodded for the greeting, "From your previous statement, I take it that you don't believe what Loghain is saying about us?"

"What, that he pulled his men in order to save them? That Cailan risked everything in the name of glory? Hardly," Teagan replied, "Loghain calls the Grey Wardens traitors, murderers of the king. I don't believe it. It is an act of a desperate man."

Alistair hoped that Lenya would not say what she thought of Cailan. Telling Cailan's uncle that she thought his nephew was an idiot probably wasn't prudent.

"I assume that you are here to see my brother," Teagan said then and Alistair let out a relieved sigh.

"Yes, Alistair here seems to think we need his help against the Blight," Lenya nodded.

"I thought so, but unfortunately that might be a problem. Eamon is gravely ill," Teagan said.

"We heard rumors about it when we stopped at Lothering after Ostagar," Lenya said, "One of your knights was there looking for some ashes."

"If you knew about the illness, why didn't you come here sooner?" Teagan asked, his voice incredulous.

"Because none of us is a doctor and our healer mage was not with us at that point and more importantly we had more important things to do," Lenya replied, "Now, tell us what is this evil thing that keeps attacking this town," She then ordered. Alistair bit his tongue when he heard that. You did not go and order people like that, especially not the nobility.

To his surprise, Teagan started to explain, "Few nights ago we were attacked by walking corpses, decomposing corpses that hunger for human flesh," A shiver seemed to go through him, "They hit again the next night. Each night they come, with greater numbers," There was now a desperation in his voice.

Lenya turned to look at Alistair, "Demons," She said and he nodded, "Where do they come?" She then asked from Teagan.

"From the castle," Teagan replied, "I've been at the gates during the daytime, but castle seems empty. We've not heard anything from there for days, no one patrols the walls and no one has responded to my shouts," He shook his head, "With Cailan dead and Loghain starting a war over the throne, no one has responded to my urgent calls for help."

"Here it comes," Alistair heard Lenya saying quietly.

"I have a feeling tonight's assault will be the worst yet," Teagan said and then he turned to talk to him. Ignoring Lenya completely, even though he had said she was their leader, "Alistair, I hate to ask, but I desperately need the help of you and your friends," Teagan said.

"It isn't just up to me," He replied, "Though the Grey Wardens don't stand much chance against Loghain without Arl Eamon," He then added and turned to look at Lenya. Teagan seemed to also notice that he had brushed Lenya aside.

"What do you say?" Teagan asked from Lenya now.

"I really don't understand Shems," Lenya shook her head, "You are asking help from the group who just walked in your town, why?" She asked.

"I know Alistair," Teagan said, "And I trust those he chooses to travel with," He added.

Alistair saw Lenya, Leliana and Zevran shake their heads. All three most likely thought that Teagan was naïve, "Before I decide anything, I'll need to know more about the situation here," Lenya said then.

"By all means, ask," Teagan said.

"Is there a way into the castle to get to the source?" Lenya asked.

"The castle is closed to us; Its doors barred. We could storm it, certainly, but what would that accomplish?" Teagan replied, "Our numbers are too few. We cannot throw men at the castle walls when they are needed to protect the village," He continued.

"What is it with you Shems and storming things?" Lenya asked from Alistair, "You need an army to attack castles and we don't have one at the moment and I didn't suggest of attacking the castle anyway. I wanted to know if there's a way inside that, a small group could use and then go and beat the Creators out of the evil that's inside it," She said, using a voice like she was explaining things to a child. Alistair noticed Teagan's ears turning red as Lenya spoke, "I take that silence as a no, then," Lenya sighed, "It would have been too easy anyway."

"Have you tried to evacuate the village?" Alistair asked, more because he tried to distract Teagan from Lenya than because he wanted to know.

"I tried," Teagan sighed, "Our one attempt at an organized evacuation resulted in an immediate attack," He explained, "And yesterday I found out that these creatures attack those fleeing on their own – even during the daytime. Whatever lies in that castle wants this village dead."

Lenya cursed in her own language, "I hate fighting when I need to worry about safety of those who can't fight themselves," She said and Alistair started to breathe a little easier. Lenya had already decided to help the village.

"All those who can't fight are going to be in the Chantry. It is the sturdiest building in the village and made mainly out of stone so it isn't as likely to get set on fire," Teagan said, "Mostly its women and children, but also few men who are too old to fight."

"If even one of those creatures gets inside it will be a slaughter," Lenya pointed out.

"I will be inside as a last line of defense here," Teagan said, "Ser Perth insist that I stay out of the fight," He continued.

"Who's Ser Perth?" Lenya wanted to know.

"He's one of Eamon's knights," Teagan replied, "Some of the knights have returned from their search for the Ashes," He added.

"What will you do if you live through the night?" Lenya asked then.

"Once the village is safe, we will try to enter the castle to find the source of this trouble," Teagan replied.

Lenya turned around and walked to the statue of Andraste, her whole being, told Alistair that she was thinking.

Teagan watched Alistair and his expression told him that he was confused. Alistair didn't blame him, talking with Lenya could have that effect.

"We'll help you," Lenya said after a while.

"Thank you! Thank you, this... means more to me than you can guess," Teagan exclaimed and then turned to talk to Tomas, "Tomas, please tell Murdock what transpired. Then return to your post."

"Yes, my lord," Tomas bowed and then he left.

"Now then, there's much to do before night falls," Teagan said, "I've put two men in charge of the defense outside."

"And they are?" Lenya inquired.

"Murdock, the village major, is outside the chantry. Ser Perth is just up the cliff at the windmill, watching the castle," Teagan replied.

"Okay," Lenya said, "Sten, Oghren and Shale, go see what you can do to the defenses they have put up and if you can improve them somehow. Zevran and Morrigan, go see what you can find out about the castle, but don't get too close if it looks like they want to make undead out of you as well," She commanded and then she turned to Wynne, "See what you can do to the wounded."

"So, we are going to help this pathetic village?" Morrigan asked.

"Yes," Lenya replied, "If you have problem with my decision, you can leave, if not then do what I told you to do," She added, "That goes for all of you," She let her eyes circle their companions, "I thought so. Alistair, since you know Teagan already you will find out every little detail of these attacks from him."

"As you wish," Alistair nodded, "What are you going to do?"

"Make sure we survive this," Lenya replied, "Come, lethallan," She then said to Leliana, "You too, Abelas."

Then everyone, except him, left the chantry, leaving him alone with Teagan, "Is she always like that?" Teagan asked.

"Pretty much," He replied.

"I have a feeling she doesn't like me very much," Teagan then said.

"Don't take it personally," Alistair smiled, "She doesn't like humans in general and you are not just a human, you're nobility on top of being human."

"And still she is helping us," Teagan said and there was a wonder in his voice.

"Probably because of the children," Alistair said and looked around the chantry. There was a lot of young children inside.

"Not for my brother?" Teagan asked.

"I don't think she cares about Eamon, one way or the other at the moment," Alistair replied, "We are here, because I asked it and could convince her enough of the importance of getting Eamon to back us, but she's never met Eamon so at the moment he is just another noble human who doesn't care about her people and there for is not to be trusted."

"You travel in fascinating company, Alistair," Teagan said, "And I'm not just talking about the elf," He added.

"I guess I am," He smiled, "I would recommend not calling Lenya just an elf though," He added more seriously. It would not serve their cause much if Lenya really got annoyed of Teagan or in worse case beheads him.

"I'll try to remember that," Teagan said, "Now, I think we should get the questions out of the way."

"Probably a good idea, I don't want to know what Lenya do to me, if I've not done what she told me to do, when she comes back," Shiver ran through him, "Now, tell me about the attacks."

* * *

><p>After she and Leliana had talked with the Major of the village and then made sure that the smith would repair the militias armor and weapons, they were on their way to see this Ser Perth.<p>

Lenya really did not understand the shems and the people living in this village did nothing that would help her understand them better. Smith had been drowning himself on spirits and smelled worse than Oghren. Which was a quite a feat. He had refused to repair anything because he wanted someone to go and save his daughter from the castle; which of course would be impossible if the village would get overrun. She understood that grief made people do stupid things. Lenya's own mother had not been able to get over the death of her mate and just wandered into the woods after giving birth to her and was never seen after that. So it was not just human thing.

The smith had to know that no one could get into the castle without his help and he didn't help because no one was going into the castle right away. And then he just believed her when she told him that she would get her daughter out of the castle. It was ridiculous. He didn't know her and still believed her more than the major of his village. Lenya would look for the smith daughter and if she was alright, then good, but she would not go and launch some ridiculous rescue, just for one Shem.

"Why are you shaking your head like that?" Leliana asked and looked her curiously.

"I just can't seem to understand shems," She sighed, "The smith acted like an idiot and that damn barkeeper was a damn coward. I understand protecting those who can't defend themselves, but I will not protect those who could, but are too lazy to do it," She had wanted to cut the head of from the sleazy bastard, still did, but shems in the village might take it badly if she went and chopped heads off from the villagers, even if the villager was a disgusting pig.

"Bella seemed to like it when you threatened to cut Lloyd's head off if he don't go and defend the village," Leliana chuckled.

"Maybe fighting undead will teach him not to treat women badly," Lenya shrugged, "Is it normal for you humans to act like this when your home is threatened?" She asked then.

"Pretty much," Leliana replied, "Reaction might differ from place to place, but in general I think this is pretty normal behavior."

"It just seems so undisciplined," Lenya said, "When the clan is threatened everyone knows their place and they do not run around like headless chickens and they do not go hiding and expect others to save them."

"Your clan is family to you. Even those who are not related to you by blood," Leliana said, "And you can walk into the other Dalish clan and they would welcome you as a family, correct?" She continued and Lenya nodded, "Humans don't have same kind of connection to other humans, who are not related to them. We are scattered all around Thedas and humans from different parts of Thedas don't always get along."

"I know that, but you would think that at least people in the same village would work together instead of just looking out for themselves. Not that all are doing that, but..." She didn't quite know how to continue or why the whole thing bothered her so much.

"Most humans have learned to look up to the lord who owns the land to protect them," Leliana said, "In here that protection has failed and the people don't know what to do and they are looking up for the first people who has more authority than they have, to save them, even if that authority don't have means to do that," She explained.

"So, these people expect Teagan to save them just because he happens to be a lord or whatever he said he was?" Lenya asked and when Leliana nodded, she scoffed, "That's idiotic!"

"There are people in your clan who are leading the efforts against threats to the clan, isn't there?" Leliana asked and she nodded, she had been one of those people, "You can think Teagan to be someone like that and normally he would have troops he could use in situation like this, but as this is his brother's arling and all the troops are in the castle, he has been left to do with what he has. A small militia that probably hasn't seen battle before these attacks happen."

Lenya thought about what Leliana was saying and reluctantly she had to adjust her views of these shems. They were protecting their homes like anyone from her clan would have been if the clan had been attacked. The fact that they were not good at it didn't diminish their worth. Their whole command structure had come down and they were left to survive the best they knew how.

"No wonder they were happy to see us," Lenya said finally, "Ah, here we are," She added when they saw several armored shems. The one who stood alone noticed their approach and turned to greet them.

"Greetings, Grey Warden," He said and bowed a little, "I am as relieved as Bann Teagan is to see you here," He continued and then added in unsure voice, "I must admit I know not how to address an elf in your position. I do not wish to be rude."

Lenya didn't quite know how to react. She was used to the fear and mistrust people showed her, but respect from the Shem, she just met, was... odd, "You can call me a Grey Warden or Warden Lenya if my Warden companion is with me and you don't want the both of us to answer you," She said.

"Grey Warden it is, then, and thank you kindly," The man said, "I am Ser Perth, until recently in direct service of Arl Eamon of Redcliffe. For now, my charge is defending the village from these evil assaults," He then introduced himself.

"Tell me what has happened here and how you have prepared for the night," Lenya ordered, "Anything you can tell me, even the little things, can be important," She added.

* * *

><p>Alistair was now talking mundane things with Teagan, when he saw that Lenya and Leliana had returned to the Chantry.<p>

"How does it look?" He asked when the women got to them.

"Well, the militia isn't very impressive, but they are skilled enough that we can trust them to hold their position, at least for a while. Their morale is bit low though, but I did get the smith to at least fix their weapons and armor. The mayor also thought it would help to lift their spirits if we could get a dwarf called Dwyn to help in the defenses," Lenya replied.

"Dwyn?" Alistair asked, "Isn't that the dwarf that supposed to have Sten's sword?"

"Unless there are many dwarfs by that name in here, then I think so," Lenya nodded.

"You want me to come with you or do you need me here?" He asked then.

"If you've got all the information from him," Lenya nodded towards Teagan," Then you can come with us."

"You didn't come here to just get me then?" He asked, puzzled.

"No, I came to see the priestess or whatever she's called," Lenya said and Leliana rolled her eyes corrected her, "Revered Mother," Lenya gave her a smile, "Yes, that one."

"You are here to see the Revered Mother?" He asked and feeling of dread settled in his guts. Lenya and the Revered Mother together, in the same room, did not sound even remotely a good idea.

"I already promised Leliana that I'll behave," Lenya grinned at him. That grin did not reassure him at all though, "You don't trust me? I'm so very, very hurt," She added and her grin just got wider.

"Never mind," He sighed.

"I'm sure a big templar like you can keep the little me in check," Lenya said smiling innocently at him.

"I know how skilled you are so, no," Alistair shook his head, "But I do trust that the promise you gave to Leliana can keep the little-you in check."

"True," Lenya smiled and then she just headed towards the area where the Revered Mother was speaking the chant.

"What do you meant by all that?" Teagan asked, worried.

"Lenya doesn't like the Chantry and since she's Dalish the Chantry tends to view her as a dangerous heathen. So, they generally don't get along. Plus Lenya thinks that the Chantry people are crazy," Alistair replied, "Hopefully the Revered Mother here don't try to convert her and we can get through this without too much yelling," He added and then followed Lenya.

"You're of elven blood and a stranger, yet you defend a home that is not your own. We are grateful for that," Revered Mother was just saying to Lenya when Alistair got to them.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't help?" Lenya asked. She sounded curious.

"Many elves claim we wouldn't do the same in return," Revered Mother said and Lenya nodded. It was obvious that she thought humans wouldn't do the same. Revered Mother noticed Lenya's nodding, "I would like to think that is not true, but I can't speak for all," Revered Mother added.

"So far, from what I've seen after leaving the Clan, I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting humans to come help us," Lenya said, "But there are exceptions," She added and gave a smile to him and Leliana.

The Revered Mother gives Lenya a curious look, like she didn't quite know what to think about her, "Let me introduce myself; I am Revered Mother Hannah, head of this chantry... which, for the moment, is a place of refuge for these poor villager," She said and unlike Teagan, she was speaking directly to Lenya, not to the humans, namely him and Leliana.

"Surely this cannot be the entire Village?" Wynne said and suddenly appeared behind them. Alistair cursed silently, for not keeping an eye of where Wynne was, "These few are all who are left?" Wynne asked.

To his relief Lenya did not react anyway to Wynne's interrupt, not reacted badly anyway, she tilted her head and studied the Revered Mother, waiting what she would answer.

"All those who cannot defend themselves, yes," Revered Mother nodded, "They are terrified of tonight's attack, and fear these walls will not keep them safe,"

Lenya seemed to study the building for a moment, "Just how safe is the chantry?" She asked then.

"It is the sturdiest building in the village. The women, elderly, and the children will stay here during the battle while the militia and knights protect them," Revered Mother replied.

Alistair heard Lenya muttering that the women should learn how to defend themselves and not rely on men to do that for them. He was not sure if Revered Mother heard Lenya's muttering. It didn't seem so as she continues to talk about the safeness of the Chantry.

"... Bann Teagan is our last line of defense," The Revered Mother was saying and then her tone changed pleading, "Please, have mercy... help these people. Do whatever you can."

Lenya expression was confused, "Why are you pleading like that?" She asked, "I have promised to aid the village already," She added, but before the Revered Mother had time to say anything more, Lenya continued, "There is something you can do to help, though."

"What is that?" The Revered Mother asked curiously.

"The knights were asking some kind of holy protection from that Maker of yours," Lenya said.

"I have done all I can for them. I pray for them, each night, and seek the Maker's forgiveness for their sins before they face their deaths," The Revered Mother said, "What Ser Perth seeks is something that is not in my power to give."

"Can't you just bless them?" Lenya asked.

"I can pray with them and give them my blessing, but Ser Perth wants me to call upon the Maker to shield them from evil," The Revered Mother explained.

"Well, can't you just tell him the Maker will watch over him?" Alistair asked and Lenya gave him approving smile, but Leliana looked unhappy, "Morale is powerful thing you know."

"You mean you want me to let them think the Maker protects them in a real sense?" The Revered Mother asked and both him and Lenya nodded, "I will not lie to them like that!" The Revered Mother said adamantly.

"You don't actually give them anything you already haven't if you give them something tangible to bolster their belief," Lenya said, "They believe in the Maker and if you give them something that gives them confidence, then it does protect them and you haven't lied to them," She added.

Alistair saw that the Revered Mother struggled with the idea, but it was hard to argue with Lenya's logic. Someday he should ask what did Lenya herself believed. He knew that the Dalish believed in gods they called Creators, but what those Creators were, was a complete mystery to him.

"Very well..." The Revered Mother sighed, "If it keeps them alive, I will do what I must," She continued and then went to the shelf near the back wall of the room and took something from there. When she came back there was something silvery in her hands, "Give these holy symbols to Ser Perth and tell him that wearing them will confer the Maker's protection."

"Thank you," Lenya said and nodded, "I will do that."

"Now, please... let me tend to them poor folk," The Revered Mother said.

Lenya only nodded again and then left the Revered Mother alone.

When they were walking out of the Chantry Alistair heard Leliana talking to Lenya.

"Do we have to do that?" He heard Leliana saying, "The faith that will protect the knights must come from their heart," She insisted.

"Source of their faith doesn't change when I give these to them," Lenya said.

"But it feels like we are tricking them," Leliana argued.

"Why are you carrying that amulet with the Andraste's symbol on it?" Lenya asked.

"It reminds me that the chantry took me in when I needed it most," Leliana replied.

"Do you feel like it can protect you?" Lenya asked then.

"From physical harm? No I don't, but I think it can protect my soul," Leliana replied.

"Do you think that the knights believe that these amulets can protect them from the weapons or claws of the undead that are attacking them or that these amulets may protect their soul from the things they can't see?" Lenya asked then, but before Leliana had time to answer, Lenya took something from under her armor, "This, is an amulet of Mythal, it was given to me when I got my Vallaslin and the Keeper said it is protecting me from harm. Giving these amulets to the knights and saying them that the Maker protects them is not lying to them or tricking them anymore than what Keeper did when she gave this to me."

"The Chantry says that the Maker has left," Alistair said, "How can he protect them if he's not even here?" He didn't know why he even said that as he thought it was a good idea to bolster the morale of the knights.

"And our gods have left us until we are elves again," Lenya said, "That doesn't prevent us from believing in them or asking their protection and believing we might have it."

"Alright," Leliana sighed, "Do as you want, but I still feel uneasy about this,"

"Noted," Lenya just said and puts her own amulet back under her armor, "Let's go see the knights and then find out if this Dwyn has Sten's sword and if he agrees to fight and maybe see if we can find out if Kaitlyn's brother has been eaten by the undeads or if he's just lost in the village," Then she just continued her way up towards where the knights were.

Alistair and Leliana changed a glance and then followed her. He did tell himself that he should ask Lenya what did she meant by the 'until we are elves again' part, but now really was not the time. If there ever would be a right time to ask Lenya about her people, was debatable.

* * *

><p>"He's even creepier with his sword than you are with your own," Alistair said to her as they watched Sten going through practice forms with his sword, Asala. There was not much else to do as they waited for the night to fall.<p>

"There's nothing creepy about him," Lenya said, "Well, maybe his growling with Abelas," She corrected and Abelas let out a disappointed growl at that, "Oh, you like it boy?" Lenya asked, faking a surprise and Abelas gave out a happy bark, "So it doesn't have anything to do with the juicy bones he's given you?" She asked then and somehow Abelas managed to look like she'd gravely insulted him, "I thought so, you slobbering monster," She said and ruffled the huge mabari's head and Abelas used that to his advantage and licked her face from chin to forehead, "Ugh, your breath could kill an ogre and I could really do without drool all over my face," She said and Abelas lets out a sound that sounded like he was laughing, "Very funny," She said, "If you keep that up I'll let Wynne wash you again," She then threatened and Abelas quickly went behind the small bush, that couldn't hide even half of him, and let out a terrified whine, "Silly," Lenya laughed.

"Yeah, you are right, I'll take it back," Alistair told her, "You are creepier than Sten is."

Lenya turned her eyes from Abelas to Alistair and then she grinned, "Yes, my prince," She said and curtsied, "Whatever you say my prince," she added, "Shall this humble servant bring your highness's fluffy slippers to your highness?"

"I regret already for telling you about that," Alistair rolled his eyes and sighed, "And I do not have a fluffy slippers."

"Lethallan!" Lenya yelled to Leliana who was talking to Wynne on the other side of the clearing.

"Yes, Lenya?" Leliana yelled back.

"Alistair needs fluffy slippers, know where we can get him a pair?" She yelled so everyone heard her.

"I'll kill you for that," Alistair muttered to Lenya and his face turned bright red as the blush consumed it. The men in the clearing were laughing their arses off.

"Does he want them with ribbons or without?" Leliana yelled back.

"With ribbons of course," Lenya yelled, "Pink ribbons."

"That might need some doing, but I'll see what I can manage," Leliana replied.

"No rush, lethallan," Lenya said, "He wants them for his fight against the Archdemon, something about making it die from laughter," She continued and grinned to Alistair.

"Does he want a dress too?" Leliana inquiried.

"It couldn't hurt, but can you really find a dress that goes well with fluffy slippers that has pink ribbons?" Lenya asked back.

"It is possible, difficult, but possible," Leliana replied.

"You two are evil, evil women!" Alistair said.

"Yeah," Lenya smiled, "I know," She added and then nodded towards the laughing and grinning militia men around them, "But look what your blight did to the moral of these men."

Alistair looked around them and then sighed, "I see, but could you make fun of someone else next time we need a moral boost," He said.

"We use the best tools we have," Lenya said.

"And that means you will make fun of me again," Alistair sighed again, defeated, "Evil woman."

"I try," Lenya chuckled.

After that they settled in waiting for the night to fall.

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><p><strong>AN: And here we are. Preparing for the nightly attack of ghastly undead monsters.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are very welcome.**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Finally here is the chapter 26 and the Redcliffe story line continues.**

**I apologize for the lengthy wait between last chapter and this, but a mysterious thing called a real life interfered and I could barely get any writing done, but hopefully the bugger is now doing something else and I can get back on writing Lenya's story.**

**I wish to thank everyone who has read this far. Special thanks to those who fave/alerted and very special thanks to those who have reviewed.**

**My eternal gratitude, as always, goes for Faelan for all the support and encouragement.**

**Huge thanks to Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize is owned by Bioware. Things you don't recognize are mine and Lenya belongs to herself.**

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><p>Lenya watched how the last ray of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon and as soon as it happened, she felt the change in the air. Beyond was getting closer to this world.<p>

"It's starting," Morrigan said and Lenya nodded.

Only moments later they heard the scream from the lookout who had been keeping eye on the castle, "The undead are coming!"

"Why did we put him there to tell us what we already know?" Lenya asked from Alistair.

"Because it made the villagers and the knights happy," Alistair shrugged.

"Ah, yes, now I remember," Lenya said and unsheathed her swords with one smooth move and gave them a swirl, "Let's go and make some undead a little bit more dead."

"Light the oil!" Ser Perth yelled and Leliana set one of her arrows in fire and shot it at the oil barrels the knights had set up in the path to the castle. Soon the barricade was in flames

First enemies appeared soon after the fires were lit and they ran straight through them. Even though the fire did not slow them, it did harm them, causing some of them collapse as the fire consumed the corpse around them.

First corpse that got through the fire crumpled to the ground immediately by an arrow that hit it in the forehead, "Nice shot, lethallan," She complimented Leliana.

"Thank you, mon coeur ," Leliana smiled at her, but Lenya did not have much time to admire Leliana, since the first of the corpses were now getting near her and it was time for her to fight as well. Lenya did make a mental note to ask Leliana what did 'mon coeur' ment, though.

The corpses did not have any skills in battle. They just rushed forward to the first living person they saw and tried to hit him or her with a weapon or in most cases with claws. Whatever kept them moving seemed to disappear when you severed their head, chopped them to pieces or when the fire burned them long enough.

"This is ridiculous," Alistair said after the battle had lasted about an hour and there was a pause in the fighting, "These things just walk into their deaths. No tactics or even skills of any sort."

"Yes, but there are lots of them and they don't tire, but we do and you saw what they did to that knight when they managed to swarm on him," Lenya said and nodded towards the wounded knight. His survival was not guaranteed even though Wynne had used as much magic they could spare to heal him, "And I have a bad feeling that we have missed something."

"If the enemy tries something we are ready for it," Alistair said, "This is the only way to the village from the castle."

"Yes..." Lenya said, but before she could finish her sentence the next wave of enemies rushed towards them.

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><p>This was the first big battle since she and Lenya had started to be together and Leliana couldn't help it, but she worried over Lenya as she engaged undead after undead. Lenya herself was a marvel to watch though. Even in heavy armor she moved gracefully and put all others to shame. Her swords radiated cold from the enchantment Morrigan was channeling to them and it was matched by the icy determination of their owner.<p>

"How long before the sun rises?" Leliana heard Lenya asking from Ser Perth when the fighting stopped for a moment.

"Two to three hours," Ser Perth replied and tiredly wiped the sweat away from his face, "We should be fine though, the attacks are getting less frequent and there's less monsters in the groups attacking us."

"That worries me," Lenya said, "If, whatever this force is that sends these things, knows that its forces can't get through us, it should increase the numbers of attackers, not reduce them. There is something bad coming still."

"Your presence might have tipped the balance on our favor, Warden," Ser Perth said, "And we can finally defeat this evil," He added almost enthusiastically, "Maker is on our side!"

"We'll see," Lenya said and left Ser Perth with his knights, who all seemed to be excited, just like Ser Perth was, "Does this Maker of yours steal the brains from some people when you start to believe in him?" Lenya asked when she came to her, "I am really starting to see why you didn't want to give those amulets to the knights."

"That's not why I didn't want to give the amulets to them," Leliana said, "And I don't think this confidence comes from the amulets or even from the Maker," She added, "It's you, who they believe so much that they are already assured that the victory is certain."

"Oh great, Now I'm probably going to get accused of heresy of some sort, when this is all over," Lenya said and then continued with a voice that sounded a bit like the Revered Mother from Lothering, "You there, elf! You are hereby accused of being too charismatic and for stealing the faithful servants of the Maker from our holier-than-thou chantry and giving them hope in the darkness of night. You are hereby sentenced to be thrown into the privy to make you less charismatic! So says the Big Thing of the Chantry!" She finished and her eyes sparkled from amusement.

Even though Lenya spoke silent enough that no one else put Leliana heard it, she looked around. It wouldn't do any good for the knights to hear what Lenya said. In spite of the fact that Lenya made fun of the Chantry, she had to chuckle, "It's the Divine, not the Big Thing of the Chantry," She corrected.

"I think the Big Thing of the Chantry sounds much better," Morrigan said, startling Leliana, she'd not even noticed she was there, "Something is not right," Morrigan then added and Lenya nodded.

"Lenya!" Alistair called out, "They are coming again," He nodded towards the path.

Lenya turned around and saw dozen or so undead monsters heading towards them. She unsheathed her swords and was about to take her place in the line when one of the militia ran towards them, yelling, "The monster! They are rising from the lake!"

"I knew it," Lenya cursed, "Shale, Sten, Zevran and Morrigan, you stay here and help the knights!" She ordered quickly, "Rest, come with me," She continued and without waiting if they were following her orders she was running down the hill to the village center.

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><p>When Mica saw the undead monsters approaching, his blood turned to ice and he was sure he would not be able to move. They had all dared to hope that the monster would not come this far this night. The Warden and her allies seemed to be holding them at the windmill.<p>

His fellow militiamen had already started to sigh from the relief, when the monsters started to rise from the lake's waters. The sheer numbers of the monsters put a dread even in the bravest of the militia.

Mica heard Murdoch order one of them to run up to the windmill and alert the Warden. He knew that the help, if it was even coming, would not come before the first undead would reach them

Mica felt pain on his hand and only then notice that he squeezed the hilt of his sword so strongly that his knuckles were white. He loosened his grip and the pain stopped.

"Ready men!" Murdoch ordered and Mica braced himself.

"Maker!" He breathed when he saw what they were up against. Surely they could not survive against so many.

"Easy there, Mica," Murdoch said. He was trying very hard to appear as fearless, but they all could use lessons on how to do that since he did not succeed on it.

Then the first monster appeared in front of Mica and he swung his sword at it and was no longer aware of what happened around him. He heard the sounds of the fighting, but could not turn to see what was happening. He could only focus on the monster in front of him.

Even though he knew it to be stupid, he tried to see if his brother was alright. He had promised to his mother to look after him. He should be right next to him, but Mica couldn't see if he really was. Everyone looked the same in armor.

The moment of inattention costed him and one of the monsters broke through his defenses and readied another attack. The world seemed to slow down and he wished he could close his eyes, but he was frozen in place, just waiting for the blow that would end his life.

Brilliant flash appeared in front of him in a form of a shining sword, that blocked the undead's attack and then it was followed by an another attack and the monster in front of him lost its head.

"You never win a battle that way, Shem," A female voice with odd accent said to him and after that he saw the Warden move past him and attack three of the monster at once. Her silverite armor and two swords shined in the light of the bonfires.

Those three monsters were destroyed in a flash and the Warden movef on to attack the next one.

"Now, ready your weapon again, lad," Friendly male voice said to him and he saw the other Warden standing near him and fighting against one of the monsters, "She will not be happy if she finds out that you just stared at her instead of fighting."

That snapped him out of the trance or whatever state he had fallen in and ready his weapon and attack the nearest enemy.

The tide turned after the Wardens arrived and the pressure was taken off from the militia. The male Warden and the old mage stayed with the militia and helped on the places where their ranks started to show weakness.

The female Warden did not stay with them though. She and her mabari attacked the monsters before they even got near the barricades. She was supported by the red haired female archer and those three just seemed to destroy everything they encountered.

Even though Mica tried not to stare, he just could not stop himself of doing that, when there were less monsters attacking him. He also noticed, that he was not the only one. Even the other Warden seemed to watch the female Warden at times.

She was graceful, fast and most of all, extremely deadly and she did work seamlessly with the mabari and the red haired archer. It was like the three were connected. If the Warden did not attack a monster, in the next moment it was either mauled by the mabari or a single arrow would pierce through its skull.

Time seemed to blur as the fight continued and Mica had no idea how long he had been fighting. There was only the next monster to be killed and then the next. Followed with brief moments to rest and watch the female Warden. If the female Warden rested at all, Mica did not see it.

Mica was just finishing off his current enemy when a ray of sunlight hit the clearing. He had been so focused on the fight that he had not even noticed, that the light had been increasing around them.

When the light hit the clearing the attacks stopped and there was no more monsters rising from the lake.

Mica sat on the ground, exhausted. Against all odds they had survived the night.

As Mica sat there and sighed in relief, he saw the female Warden sheathe her swords and return to the clearing. When she got closer Mica noticed that her armor was covered in the bits and pieces of the undead and there was a fresh cut on her cheek, but the most striking thing was her eyes, they were glowing with a soft blue light.

"Are you alright, Lenya?" The other Warden asked from the woman. There was a worry in his voice.

"Just peachy, Alistair," The female Warden, Lenya, replied, "My hair is a mess and I think I'm covered in the bits and pieces of the corpses, but at least there was no rage demons in here that could have burned my hair. That would have made me very unhappy."

"I'm sure we can find a bath for you, so you can wash your hair, mon coeur," The redhead archer said. Her voice had certain fondness in it when she spoke.

"That would be great, lethallan, but I think we need to wait until this whole mess is cleared," Lenya replied, "This is not over until the source in the castle is dealt with."

"Let us see what Teagan has to say," The other Warden, Alistair, suggested, "I got the idea that he has a plan."

"Let's hope it is a good one," Lenya said and then her expression changed as she turned to the old mage, "You alright, Wynne?" She asked.

"I... yes, I'm just tir..." The old mage replied and then she started to fall and without Lenya she would have collapsed on the ground.

"Was she hit?" Lenya asked.

"No, she was behind the lines the whole time," Alistair replied and kneeled beside his fellow Warden and the mage, Wynne.

Lenya seemed to study the mage and then touched her forehead, "She's waking up."

"Uh..." The mage mumbled groggily, "I fell."

"Nice grasp of the obvious," Lenya said, "What happen?"

"I thought it was all over," Wynne replied.

"The battle is over if you mean that," Alistair pointed out.

"No, I thought I was," Wynne said, "I'll be fine for now, but when we are not in danger, I wish to speak with you, Lenya."

"Sure," Lenya said, but sounded less than eager when she said it.

"I promise it is not a lecture this time," Wynne promised.

"We'll see," Lenya said and helped the mage up, "Let's do a sweep and see that there are no more monsters lurking anywhere," She then ordered and she and her friends left the clearing.

"That woman is like an avenging angel when she fights," Mica heard a familiar voice of his brother say behind him, "Never have I seen anything like that, Mica," His brother continued and sat beside him. He had a fresh bandage on his arm and bruised cheek, but he was alive.

"Me neither Darv," Mica said, "Me neither," There was no uncertainty on the fact that they all were alive because of the Warden, Lenya and her companions.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for them to go through the village and make sure all the attackers were dead. The fact that they had survived with only few casualties was a miracle if you asked Alistair.<p>

What amazed Alistair most was how differently the villagers looked at Lenya now. All the militiamen who were at the clearing defending the Chantry, were watching Lenya like she was Andraste herself.

Alistair did not blame them. Even he was amazed of what he had seen during the night and he had seen Lenya fight before.

"Dawn arrives, and we survived the night. We are victorious," Bann Teagan said, bringing Alistair back to the present, "And though the victory came at great cost, we must remember none would be here were not for the heroism of these good folk beside me," Teagan continued and then turned to face Lenya and bowed slightly, "I bow to you, dear lady. Truly, the Maker smiled on us when he sent you here in our darkest hour," Alistair closed his eyes and waited for the explosion from Lenya. He should have warned Teagan that referring Lenya and the Maker in the same sentence was not a good idea, but it was too late now.

"I doubt this Maker of yours had anything to do in sending me here, but thank you," Lenya said and Alistair's eyes snapped open in shock and he stared at Lenya like she was mad. Diplomacy from Lenya was... unsettling. Well, diplomacy that did not involve severed heads was unsettling.

"Let us bow our heads and give honor to those who gave their lives in defense of Redcliffe," Mother Hannah started to speak to the gathered villagers, "Now they walk with He who is their Maker. Long may they know the peace of His love."

"Gods above ease their passing and Falon'Din guide them," Lenya said with loud enough voice, that everyone heard her. Alistair saw a slight tightening of lips on Mother Hannah, but she hardly could stop Lenya from speaking. It wouldn't look good if she would try to scold Lenya of her beliefs in front of the villagers who Lenya had just saved.

"With the Makers favor, the blow we delivered today is enough for me to enter the castle and seek out your arl," Teagan said to the villagers. Alistair, however, cursed silently. Teagan's words implied that he knew a way inside and that also meant that he'd withhold information from them. Lenya would not like that, "Be wary and watch for signs of renewed attack. We shall return with news as soon as we are able," He continued and then turned to look at Lenya, "Now, we've have no time to waste. Meet me at the mill. We can talk further there," He said and before Lenya had time to say anything he turned and left.

"Please, don't kill him," Alistair pleaded when they were with their own group.

"That depends," Lenya said, "On what his reasons are for lying to me," She continued grimly.

"I'm impressed, dearest, of your restrain and use of diplomacy," Leliana said, "I was sure you will behead him right then and there when he said that Maker send you."

"Never mind that," Zevran said, "Her words to the fallen were pure genius, I could see the Revered Mother, squirm because she could not say anything without looking stupid and really ungrateful."

"Glad you liked them," Lenya grinned and then she looked up to the windmill, "Let's go see if Teagan will continue living," She said and started to walk towards the path that would take them to windmill.

"I hate it when she does that," Alistair sighed, "You think praying to the Maker would help Teagan to survive this meeting?"

"I wouldn't count on it," Leliana stated, "Praying for Lenya might work better."

"Thanks a lot," Alistair sighed again, "Let's go, I don't want her to talk with Teagan alone,"

"Probably a good idea," Leliana agreed as they walked after Lenya.

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><p>Lenya found Teagan standing near the windmill and watching the castle. When he heard Lenya's approach he started to speak, "Odd how quiet the castle looks from here. You would think there was nobody inside at all."<p>

Lenya said nothing to that. She already knew that the castle was not empty. Morrigan had told her that she saw more of the corpses in the courtyard when she flew over it.

"But I shouldn't delay things further," Teagan continued, "I had a plan..." He hesitated, like he knew that Lenya would not like what he had to say, "...to enter the castle after the village was secure," He said and his hesitation just grew, "There is a secret passage here, in the mill, accessible only to my family."

"Yes, I know," Lenya said, "Zevran found it yesterday, but he couldn't open it," She explained when Teagan stared at her in disbelief, "What I don't know is, why you kept this information from me," She continued.

"I knew you would choose to enter the castle instead of staying in the village... and we needed warriors," Teagan said apologetically, "I'm sorry if-"

"This is why I hate you shems," Lenya cursed, "You are sorry? Damn lot that helps now when I already risked the life of my companions because of your lies. Not to mention the whole damn attack might not have even come if you'd let me inside to deal with the damn source of these bloody attacks," She growled at Teagan who seemed to go in shock, "Alistair, do we really need his stupid brother?" She turned to look at Alistair.

"We do," Alistair replied, looking apologetic.

"Damn," Lenya cursed and turned to speak to Teagan again, "But if your brother starts to lie to me, I will cut his head off and yours as well and I don't give a rats ass that you are nobles," She promised and then turned away from the shocked man. She had to get some distance away from Teagan or she would do something she might regret.

* * *

><p>"If or when we get Eamon out of there and cured of his illness," Alistair said when Lenya was out of the hearing range, "I suggest that you tell Eamon that lying to Lenya is not healthy for him or to you," He said, "And before you ask, yes, she will fulfill the promise she just made for you," He knew Lenya well enough to know that was true.<p>

"I didn't mean to..." Teagan started, but stopped mid sentence, "Maker's breath!" He exclaimed and pointed at the path that lead to the castle. Alistair saw that there was a woman running towards them. He also knew the woman even though it had been years since he'd seen her, it was Isolde, Eamon's wife.

"Great, more noble shems," He heard Lenya saying behind him, "I'll bet Oghren's arse that she will demand something really stupid from us."

"Hey!" Oghren protested, but Lenya ignored him because Isolde was now close enough to speak.

"Teagan! Thank the Maker you yet live," Isolde exclaimed, relieved, "I do not have much time to explain! I slipped away from the castle as soon as the battle was over, and I must return quickly," She continued and then a little hesitantly added, "And I... need you to return with me, Teagan, alone."

"Yeah, sure," Lenya snorted drawing Isolde's attention to herself, "Unless you give me a damn good reason why he should do that he's not going anywhere," She added and Isolde turned to face her, looking confused. Alistair was sure, that no elf had ever talked to her like that. In spite of himself he chuckled and thought that he might even enjoy watching Lenya talking to Isolde.

"What? I..." Isolde started and then she seemed to notice she was talking to an elf and she seemed to decide that Lenya was beneath her and turned back to Teagan. Even if she would try, Alistair doubted, that Isolde could insult Lenya more, "...who is this woman, Teagan?"

"Your worst nightmare, Shem, if you try to treat me like I'm not here," Lenya said, her voice cold as ice.

Teagan who already had started to understand Lenya hurried to explain, "Were it not for her help, Isolde, I would not be here. I owe her my life."

"You owe me more than that, but who's counting," Lenya said so quietly that it was doubtful that Teagan or Isolde heard her.

"Pardon me, I..." Isolde started and Alistair took some sick enjoyment of the fact that Isolde did not know how to act. Her upbringing told her that Lenya was beneath her, servant at best, but Lenya's presence told her that she was a woman that not only deserved respect, but demanded it, "I would exchange pleasantries, but... considering circumstances..." Isolde's voice drifted away and she was actually talking to somewhere between Teagan and Lenya.

"Please, Isolde... we had no idea anyone was even alive within the castle," Teagan said, "We must have answers!" Last one was not a question, it was an order.

"I know you need more of an explanation, but I... don't know how much is safe to tell," Isolde said.

"Why don't you start from everything and we see if it's enough," Lenya suggested, but Isolde didn't even turn to look at her. Alistair started to mutter prayers to the Maker or to anyone who might listen. He didn't like Isolde, but he didn't want her losing her head and that was exactly what would happen if she continued to treat Lenya like that.

"Teagan, there is terrible evil within the castle," Isolde started, but that was as far as she got when Lenya's muttering interrupted her.

"Probably shems," Lenya muttered, "Or worse yet... chantry people," She continued, speaking more to herself than to anyone, "I've heard those are active this time of year," Isolde and Teagan were now watching Lenya who was pretending that she had not noticed it, "What?" She asked suddenly, "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just an elf, what do I know about dangers of the high and mighty. Please do continue your rambling," She motioned with her hand and then pulled one of her swords out and started to study it, completely ignoring Teagan and Isolde now.

Alistair saw that Teagan had pained expression on her face. He didn't want to insult Lenya, but it seemed that speaking to Isolde gave him no choice as Isolde seemed to view Lenya as a servant or something akin to that.

Isolde on the other hand tried to avoid watching Lenya at all now. She took special care not to look at the sword Lenya turned in her hands. Alistair thought it was _Ma'vhenan_, but in truth he could not say which one of the swords it really was. Even though Isolde probably did not know much about swords, she had to realize how priceless the sword was. Definitely not something a servant would have.

Isolde seemed to shiver and then she turned to Teagan again, "The dead waken and hunt for living. The mage responsible was caught, but still it continues," Isolde continued to explain, "And I think... Connor is going mad. We have survived, but he won't leave the castle. He has seen so much death!" Isolde's voice changed then, now it was pleading, "You must help him, Teagan! You are his uncle. You could reason with him. I do not know what else to do!"

Alistair noticed that Lenya had stopped at looking at her sword, now she watched at Isolde, "Why do I get the feeling that you are not telling us everything?" Lenya asked from Isolde, who's expression turned outraged.

"I... I beg your pardon! That's a rather impertinent accusation!" Isolde said indignantly.

"Ooh, impertinent elf dares to speak up to you!" Lenya snorted, "Would it be better if I just grovel in front of you and perhaps clean your feet so you can then get back inside the castle and let this evil kill you and your clean feet?" She asked and sheathed her sword, "I'm sure I can find someone who'll clean your feet for few coins."

Isolde looked shocked and Alistair was sure that no one had spoken to her like that before. Isolde's title had always protected her from things like this, but Lenya did not honor the title and Alistair was pretty sure she did not respect Isolde at all, "No!" isolde exclaimed, "I did not mean... that is to say, I... please, stop this!"

"As soon as you stop treating me like a damn servant," Lenya said.

"An evil I cannot fathom holds my son and husband hostage! I came for help! What more do you want from me?" Isolde exclaimed her voice anguished.

"A truth," Lenya said bluntly.

Teagan decided to join back into the conversation, "But... I do not understand what you mean by this 'evil'. Did it create these walking corpses? What it is?"

"Something the mage unleashed. So far it allows Eamon, Connor and myself to live," Isolde replied, "The others were not so fortunate. It's killed so many, and turned their bodies into walking nightmares! Once it was done with the castle, it struck the village!" She continued, "It wants us to live, but I do not know why. It allowed me to come for you, Teagan, because I begged, because I said Connor needed help."

Alistair wondered what Isolde was leaving out. Like Lenya, he did not believe that Isolde had told them everything. She was hiding something and whatever it was, it was bad.

Alistair knew enough already, to know, that there was a demon or demons on the loose in the castle. Question now was, how much could they trust Isolde? It was clear that Lenya did not trust her at all.

"...must come back with me, Teagan! Please!" Isolde's voice brought Alistair back to the present. Her voice still grated his nerves. He also noticed that he'd missed part of the conversation.

"So why must Teagan go alone?" Lenya asked.

"For Connor's sake, I promised I would return quickly and only with Teagan," Isolde replied and then turned back Teagan. "Teagan, I know you could order your men to follow me when I return to the castle. I beg you not to, for Connor's sake!"

Lenya turned to look at the castle, "Enough questions. I need to decide what to do," She says after a while.

"The king is dead, and we need my brother now more than ever. I will return to the castle with you, Isolde," Teagan said and Lenya turned to look at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Oh, thank the Maker! Bless you, Teagan! Bless you!" Isolde said, relieved.

"Are you out of your mind, Shem?" Lenya asked from Teagan, "This bloody idiot runs from the castle and tells you that you have to go inside alone to save her son from the evil and you are going to do that? For all we know she's controlled by the damn demon, herself. She certainly sounds like one," Lenya points at Isolde, "You're going to get yourself killed."

"I cannot let Isolde return alone. Perhaps I can help Connor or Eamon," Teagan said with determined voice.

"Most likely you'll end up doing what the evil inside there wants," Lenya said.

"Perhaps this is really a trap, but this is my family. I must try," Teagan said, "I do not have illusions of dealing with this evil alone. You, on the other hand, have proven quite formidable," He then said to Lenya, before he turned to speak with Isolde, "Isolde, can you excuse us for a moment? We must confer in private before I return to the castle with you."

"Please do not take too long! I will be by the bridge," Isolde said and then she left towards the path to the castle.

Lenya stared after Isolde and then shaked her head, "I do not like her," She said, "There is something seriously wrong with her."

"Here's what I propose: I go in with Isolde and you enter the castle using the secret passage. My signet ring unlocks the door," Teagan said and handed his ring to Lenya, "Perhaps I will... distract whatever evil is inside and increase your chances of getting in unnoticed. What do you say?"

"I think you are crazy and that you will end up dead," Lenya said.

Teagan smiled at her and then he suggested that they should try to get the castle gate opened from the inside so Ser Perth's knights could help inside the castle. He also pointed out that whatever happen, Eamon was priority and everyone else inside was expendable.

"I could stop you from doing this, you know," Lenya said casually and locked her eyes on Teagan's. Teagan was smart enough to know that Lenya was right.

"So you could. But what would be the point? Do you really want to endanger my little nephew and especially my brother? I don't," Teagan said.

"All proof we have about that danger is that annoying woman's word. All we know they could all be dead already, but I can see you've decided to do this, no matter how stupid it is," Lenya said, "I will not stop you."

"So we are going to send him with that woman?" Leliana asked, "It seems dangerous!"

"You don't have to tell me that," Lenya said, "But like he said, it's his family."

"But I can delay no longer. Allow me to bid you farewell... and good luck," Teagan said and then he was gone.

* * *

><p>The castle had been filled with undead monsters and only two living shemlen. The blood mage at the dungeon and the smith's daughter. The mage was still locked up in the cell and Valena, the smith's daughter, hopefully got out of the castle through the tunnel they had come in.<p>

Undead corpses were only minor nuisance, but the wraiths were bit more difficult to handle. _Ma'Vhenan_ and _Ma'Elgar_, Lenya's swords, did cut them, but they were not as effective as they should be and if her starmetal swords were not working as they should, the rest of the group had even more problems, since their weapons had been made out of the ordinary metal. Only the enchantments in them allowed them to harm the wraiths at all. Leliana's arrows faced similar problem. Without enchantment they just passed through the things.

So it had fallen to Lenya to kill the wraiths with the help of the mages who could harm them directly. Touch of the blasted things made her feel unclean and she also suspected they were draining her someway. She was beginning to feel tired. Of course it could be the fact that she'd fought the whole night before coming here, but that was nothing new to her.

All that made Lenya wonder why they did not have these problems at the Circle tower. Their weapons had been worse there, but the shades and wraiths had died like any other demons. Had they been more strongly on this world and less in the fade? - Lenya shook her head and lets out an annoyed sigh. This was not the time to let her mind wander on questions she probably would never get an answer for.

One thing annoyed her even more than the wraiths and all the enemies in the castle; Wynne. The old mage disapproved how Lenya had handled Jowan and had been giving her disapproving stares ever since she'd decided to let Jowan out of the cell and even though he ended up staying in the cell anyway, Wynne didn't like the initial decision. Obviously she should have killed the man in the cell or something, which would have been really stupid.

Alistair had been uneasy about Jowan as well, but he did understood why Lenya had spared the man.

The bottom line was that Lenya trusted Jowan more than she trusted Isolde. He was the first one in this blasted village who had honestly told Lenya what he was and what he'd done.

"Would you stop giving me those stares!" Lenya finally snarled angrily at Wynne, "If the decisions I make don't suit you or your limited view of the world, you are free to leave."

"The man is dangerous. A blood mage and he openly admitted that he poisoned the Arl," Wynne said, "Not to mention all the templars he killed while escaping the tower."

"We can give him a medal for that," Lenya said and locked her eyes on Wynne's, "Just because he's a a blood mage doesn't make him a bad person, even the poisoning of the Arl doesn't make him a bad person. It just makes him gullible," Then she chuckled, "Basically you could blame chantry for this. If they would let mages be free Jowan would never had a need of doing what he did and to be honest, I trust him more than I trust that banshee."

"Banshee?" Wynne asked, confused.

"I think she means Isolde," Alistair said and there was a big grin on his face. Lenya knew Isolde had been the reason Alistair had been sent to the templar training. He was probably hoping more arguments between her and Isolde and was hoping to get some fun out from that.

Wynne was about to say something, but suddenly she stopped and began to stare up the stairs they were going to go. Glance at Morrigan told Lenya all she needed to know. Like Wynne, Morrigan was staring up the stairs. The overwhelming feeling of the Beyond here masked individual demons from Lenya's senses, so she didn't feel anything ahead, but she trusted the mages.

"What do you feel?" She whispered to Wynne.

"Something stronger than what we have fought so far," Wynne replied, "Perhaps a corpse possessed by a Desire or a Pride demon."

"And it's behind that door?" Lenya pointed at the door at the top of the stairs. Both mages nodded, "Can you say if it's right behind the door or further away from it?" She asked then.

"It's not right behind the door," Wynne said after she and Morrigan shared a look.

"Anything I should know about the demons? What kind of corpses they make when they enter the dead and such?"

"Revenants are powerful demons inhabiting the corpses of the fallen, they are normally possessed by demons of Pride or Desire. These are no simple walking corpses. Many have martial skills with weapons. They possess powerful magic's. They commonly use telekinesis to pull opponents into melee range should they try to flee. They possess very strong arms and armor," Wynne explained and there was that lecturing tone in her voice. This time it didn't annoy Lenya though. This was useful lecturing after all.

"Though Desire demons would create an Arcane Horror instead," Morrigan said, "Like any mage, it is not suited for melee fighting and use spells to attack."

"Okay then," Lenya said, "We'll see which it is and then... well, we kill it," She saw the world through a blue light so her eyes must be blazing. She had always enjoyed fighting and even though things she fought now were all dangerous and could kill her if she was careless, she was excited and because of the taint and Avernus's potion, that excitement was now visible as a glow in her eyes.

"Don't get careless, young lady," Wynne warned her.

Lenya just snorted at the mage. This was not the place to start yelling at the old mage about her treating Lenya like a child again.

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><p>When Leliana followed Lenya up the stairs she saw Alistair shake his head at Wynne. Leliana understood. Wynne did no one a service for treating Lenya like a child and for someone who should be old enough to know these things, Wynne was surprisingly stubborn.<p>

Like Alistair, Leliana feared that they would lose their healer if Wynne would continue like this. One of them would need to give in and Leliana knew it would not be Lenya. Wynne was with them only because Lenya thought her useful. Wynne might have not realized it, but she was the only one from their group, Lenya did not respect. Lenya respected Wynne's healing skills, but not the mage herself.

Everyone else from the group had earned measure of respect from Lenya. Respect for them self, not just for their skills.

All that went through Leliana's mind as she climbed the stairs to the door.

When Leliana stepped through the door she was greeted by the warm breeze of clear air. Fast look around told her that they had arrived to the castle courtyard and she could see many undead creature's further ahead, but she could also see one larger than the others standing on the opposite side of the courtyard.

"Revenant," Leliana heard Morrigan say behind her.

"So it pulls you to it?" Leliana asked from the witch and looked at the bow in her hands.

"If it sees you more of a threat than anything close to it or to disrupt your attacks, yes," Morrigan replied, "If that happen just try to get out of the range of its blade."

"Where's the fun in getting away from the enemy, woman?" Oghren asked.

"Or you could use obnoxious dwarf as a shield from the monsters attacks," Morrigan said and gave the dwarf a disgusted look.

Leliana hid her smile. Oghren kept hitting on Morrigan constantly. The obnoxious dwarf continued to do so even though Morrigan had set his beard on fire last evening. Oghren had just told the witch that he liked a woman who had fire in her. They were apparently like firecrackers between the sheets.

"Leliana," Lenya's voice called her.

"Yes?" She asked and stepped beside Lenya.

"See the gate controls over there?" Lenya asked and she nodded, "When the fighting starts, get to those and open the gate. We might need the knights if that thing there is as dangerous as the mages seem to think and we certainly need Shale."

"Wouldn't Zevran be better?" Leliana asked, not wanting to let Lenya into the fight without her aid.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "You can join the fight as soon as you get the gate open, but Zevran would have to run back to the enemy."

Leliana understood the reasoning, but she didn't like it.

"The big thing has noticed us," Alistair warned and readied his sword and shield. Lenya turned to look at the thing and gave the orders. Lenya, Alistair and the mages would take on the Revenant and the rest would attack the lesser undead.

Then the Wardens were already moving towards the Revenant and the fighting was about to start. Leliana put her bow at her back and started towards the gate controls.

She was about halfway through the courtyard when her heart nearly stopped when she saw Lenya flying backwards away from the Revenant. With near impossible feat of agility Lenya twisted her body in midair and landed on her feet and slid backwards until coming to a stop in a perfect balance.

When Lenya straightened she pointed her sword at the Revenant and Leliana heard her yelling challengingly to it, "Har'elgar! Na ma har'el, emma shem'nan!" Again, with her eyes blazing and her red hair whipping in the slight breeze, Lenya reminded Leliana of the heroines from her stories. Then Lenya started to run back to the fight. Last thing Leliana heard before Lenya was back in the fight was Lenya calling one of her gods, Mythal.

All that had to happen in mere blink of an eye as Leliana still had few meters to run before she would be at the gate controls. Even if her life would depend on it, she would not be able to say if she'd stopped or if she'd continued to move when she saw Lenya flying.

Then she was at the controls and released the latch that was holding the drawbridge up and hurriedly started to spin the wheel that would raise the portcullis. When she saw first of the knights come under the gate she stopped and took a fast steadying breaths before pulling her bow from her back.

She scanned the situation fast and noticed that she could not hope to aid Alistair or Lenya with the Revenant. Not without risking hitting her friends as well. Not that the Wardens seemed to need any help anyway. The Revenant had lost its shield already and it was hard pressed on defending itself from the two sided attacks.

The Revenant being out of the question, she started to fire upon the Revenant's lesser brethren

After the knights and Shale joined the fight it was over pretty quickly. The Revenant was last to go down when Lenya managed to cut the creature's head off.

Leliana studied Lenya, trying to see if she was hurt, but if Lenya was hurt, she did not show it and from her fluid movements as she sheathed her swords, it did not seem likely.

"Really annoying bugger," She heard Lenya saying, "Why didn't you mention that the blasted thing is as strong as ogre?"

"I didn't know," Wynne replied, "I've never faced one, only read about them."

"I've never faced one either. I was only every informed of them from my mother's tale's," Morrigan says when Lenya's eyes turned on her.

"Hrmph!" Lenya scoffed, "I hate surprises."

"Not as much as I hate getting my heart jumping in my throat while seeing you getting sent flying by one huge swipe of the sword," Alistair said, "I was sure you had been killed."

"If I would have not blocked the sword, I would have been," Lenya shrugged indifferently and then looked around, "Did we lose anyone?"

"One of my knights is wounded and can't follow further, but no casualties," Ser Perth replied, "Shall we enter the main hall together? It must be held if we are to regain control of the castle."

Lenya let her eyes circle them and then she nodded, "Yes, let's go end this."

"Excellent. Let us go now, then, and see what awaits us there," Ser Perth said.

"A demon," Lenya muttered as they walked up the stairs to the door.

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><p><strong>Translation to the things Lenya speak in elvish:<strong>

**Har'elgar! Na ma har'el, emma shem'nan! = Dread spirit! You should fear me, my revenge is swift!**

**Lenya's swords are named _Ma'Vhenan_ and _Ma'Elgar_. My Heart and My Spirit. When I use them by name in the story I use italic font on them to distinct them from the normal sentences Lenya might say in elven language.**

**Leliana uses french in this chapter when talking to Lenya. This was suggested by my beta, Killa, to make Leli seem more like Leli. I will keep on doing that from time to time. Translations for those can be found here as well.**

**mon coeur = my heart**

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><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Chapter 26 done. **

**Lots of fighting happening in this chapter. Which I think is good since there has been so much talking going on lately.**

**And of course Lenya hears the most annoying sound in Thedas. "Teagan!" - Mere thought of it sends shivers through me.**

**I did hope I would get whole Redcliffe part done on this chapter, but the chapter would have become too big if I'd done that so I divided it and I can promise you don't have to wait the next one for two months. :) Well, unless my computer dies suddenly. :)**

**As usual I changed somethings a bit to suit Lenya and the story better. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: And chapter 27 is here. Redcliffe castle, meeting with Connor and decisions to be made.**

**As I promised after the last chapter there isn't months long wait for this chapter. Seems that I was right since I am posting it now.**

**Again I wish to thank all those who have read this far and special thanks to those who fave/alerted this story. Very special thanks to those who reviewed.**

**Thanks with hugs to Faelan. Support you give me is invaluable my friend.**

**For Killa1934, huge thanks for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize still belongs to Bioware, not me... unfortunately. :) Everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

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><p>First thing that got Lenya's attention when they stepped inside the main hall was Teagan hopping around like a clown. Then she noticed the rest of the people in the hall. Isolde, who seemed oddly submissive, was standing near a young boy, who watched the show Teagan was putting up and then there was a few guards nearby.<p>

When they approached the boy, he looked up from Teagan who immediately stopped his show and sat at the boy's feet.

"So these are our visitors? The ones you told me about, Mother?" The boy asked from Isolde. Lenya cursed; they had found the source of evil. When the boy spoke it sounded just like a young boys voice, but it had a demonic echo to it.

"Y-yes, Connor," Isolde replied, her voice shaky.

Then Connor turned his eyes on Lenya, "And this is the one who defeated my soldiers? The ones I sent to reclaim my village?" He asked trying to keep his eyes on Lenya's and Lenya felt a familiar tugging of the demon's mind in her own and her field of vision flashed blue, unsettling Connor and the demon within him, "And now it's staring at me! What it is, Mother? I can't see it well enough."

"This is an elf, Connor," Isolde replied, "You... you've seen elves, before. We have them here in the castle..."

"Oh, I remember!" Connor exclaimed enthusiastically, "I had their ears cut off and fed to the dogs! The dogs chewed for hours! Shall I send it to the kennels, Mother?"

"Child or no, he will lose his head if he even think of putting that thought into motion," Lenya muttered.

"C-connor, I beg you, don't hurt anyone!" Isolde pleaded, but she did not watch her son. Her eyes were fixed on Lenya. She knew that the life of her son depended on Lenya.

"M-mother?" Connor said suddenly and the echo was gone from his voice, "What... what's happening? Where am I?"

"Oh... thank the Maker!" Isolde said and fell to her knees, "Connor? Connor, can you hear me?" She tried to touch her son, but Connor struck her hands away.

"Get away from me, fool woman! You are beginning to bore me," Connor snarled at his mother and the echo was back in his voice.

"Maker's breath! What has happened here!?" Ser Perth demanded to know.

"Grey Warden... please don't hurt my son!" Isolde pleaded at Lenya, "He's not responsible for what he does!"

"Of course not," Lenya snorted, her tone sarcastic, "He's just the evil force you spoke of."

"No, don't say that!" Isolde cried out, "Connor didn't mean to do this! It was that mage, the one who poisoned Eamon- He started all this! He summoned this demon! Connor was just trying to help his father!"

"And made a deal with a demon to do so," Morrigan shook her head, "Foolish boy."

"It was a fair deal!" Connor yelled, "Father is alive, just as I wanted. Now it's my turn to sit on the throne and send out armies to conquer the world! Nobody tells me what to do anymore!"

"Nobody tells him what to do! Nobody!" Teagan joined in and then laughed madly.

"Quiet, uncle. I warned you what would happen if you kept shouting didn't I? Yes, I did," Connor snapped at Teagan who just stared at him stupidly, "But let's keep things civil. This woman will have the audience she seeks. Tell us, woman... what have you come here for?" He then asked and turned his attention to Lenya.

Lenya locked her eyes on Connor's and slowly smiled, "I came to stop you," She said and from the corner of her eyes she saw how Isolde paled. The stupid woman still thought that she was still dealing with her son instead of the whatever demon had him possessed.

"I'm not finished playing! You can't make me stop!" Connor yelled, "I think it's trying to spoil my fun, Mother!"

"I'm going to do a lot more than spoil your fun you spoiled little demon brat," Lenya snarled and readied herself for battle.

"I... I don't think..." Isolde started with anguished voice.

"Of course you don't. Ever since you sent the knights away, you do nothing but deprive me of my fun. Frankly, it's getting dull," Connor interrupted Isolde angrily, "I crave excitement! And action! This woman spoiled my sport by saving that stupid village, and now she'll repay me!" When Connor said the last word he darted away and all the guards sprung into action.

Lenya tried to follow Connor, but was blocked by Teagan who tried to behead her. She blocked the sword and tied it with her own sword before she brought the pommel of her other sword into Teagan's temple. Teagan's eyes rolled over and he dropped on the ground like a stone.

The fight was over fast, Lenya and the knights had numbers on their side and there were no undead creatures in the hall.

Lenya considered running after Connor, but something told her that it might not be wise. The demon was most likely expecting something like that. Instead she gave orders to secure the hall and went to see how badly she'd clubbed Teagan.

Isolde was already on her way to do the same, "Teagan! Teagan, are you alright?!" She shrieked as she approached her brother-in-law. Lenya considered chopping her head off, just to stop the ungodly noise she was making. She had never heard more annoying voice and she thought that this Arl Eamon must be deaf. She just couldn't figure any other way anyone could handle living with the banshee. Isolde's voice was also so piercing that it was apparently bringing Teagan back to consciousness. Poor bastard - Lenya thought, "Blessed Andraste! I would never have forgiven myself had you died, not after I brought you here. What a fool I am!" Isolde yelped and helped Teagan up from the floor.

"Now there is something I can agree with you," Lenya said. She studied Teagan for a moment before she sheathed her swords.

"Please! Connor's not responsible for this! There must be some way we can save him!" Isolde started to plead again.

"You knew about this all along," Lenya said, "And instead of letting us deal with the demon you decided to feed Teagan to it?"

"I..." Isolde started, "I... yes. I didn't tell you because I believed we can help him. I still do."

"I do not know if we can save him. Demons don't listen to reason," Teagan said grimly.

"He is not always the demon you saw. Connor is still inside him, and sometimes he breaks through," Isolde pleaded.

"Yes, with these you can find the people inside the abominations," Lenya said and pointed to her sword, "Sometimes several people."

Isolde paled and she stared Lenya in horror, "Please, I just want to protect him!"

"Isn't that what started this?" Teagan asked and the look he gave Isolde was not kind, "You hired the mage to teach Connor in secret... to protect him!" He continued and there was only contempt in his voice.

"If they discovered Connor had magic, then they'd take him away!" Isolde exclaimed, "I thought if he learned just enough to hide it, then..."

"See, this is what the chantry has driven people to with their stupid idea of locking the mages in the towers, away from their families," Lenya said to Wynne, "Mothers do stupid things to keep their children and then they go and summon demons and kill whole villages."

"With Circle he would have been taught to control his powers," Wynne said, defending the decrepit organization she was part of.

"With proper teacher he could have been taught here at home," Lenya scoffed, "Instead this stupid idiot goes and hires first apostate she sees to teach him in secret and now we have demons roaming the castle and a little boy on his way to the early grave," She continued, "Well done, I sure want to start giving donations to the Chantry now."

"What I don't understand is why she would trust Loghain of all the people," Leliana wondered.

"Why wouldn't I?" Isolde asked, confused, "How could have I suspected the mage he sent would be a murderer?"

"It is well known that Loghain despises anything Orlesian," Leliana pointed out. A frown appeared on Isolde's brow.

"And Eamon knew nothing of your plans?" Teagan wanted to know and Isolde shook her head, "Do you not realize what you've done, Isolde?!"

"Eamon would only demand we do the right thing! I was not going to lose my son! Not to... to magic!" Isolde said vehemently, with disgust in her voice.

"Yes, losing him to a demon is so much better," Lenya scoffed, "You can be happy of the knowledge that he will take many more with him into the Beyond until he's stopped," She added matter of factly.

"No, no please! There must be another way! There must be something we can do!" Isolde cried out desperately.

Lenya hardly heard the pleas of the woman. Her mind was already thinking about how it would be best to deal with the demon; which meant that first she would need to know where it was, "Where is Connor now? Why did he run?"

"I think he run upstairs, to the family quarters," Teagan replied and nodded towards one of the rooms leading out of the hall.

"Violence... scares him. I know that sounds strange. He may have run up to his room, or..." Isolde's voice trailed off, but she didn't need to finish that thought.

"Or he might be waiting in ambush," Lenya finished what Isolde had been about to say.

"I don't know. The fighting may have scared Connor into... coming out again, and so he ran," Isolde shrugged.

"So you're saying he may be vulnerable?" Teagan asked, surprising Lenya. Maybe the shem was worth something after all. Lenya surely had not expect him to be so practical when it was his nephew in question.

"I... perhaps. Is there... is there no other way?" Isolde asked desperately.

If the demon went up to the family quarters... to the place that was most likely where this Eamon was as well. This demon also probably knew Lenya was here for the Arl. Did the demon know she would prefer the man alive and would it use Eamon as a hostage? "Where's Arl Eamon?"

"Upstairs, in his room. I think the demon has been keeping him alive," Isolde replied.

"So if we destroy the demon then...?" Teagan started.

"Then my husband may perish, yes," Isolde nodded.

"Things just keep getting better and better," Lenya muttered, "What are our options?" She turned to ask from her companions.

"I wouldn't normally suggest slaying a child, but... he's an abomination. I'm not sure there's any choice," Alistair said reluctantly.

"We can't kill a young boy, demon or no demon," Leliana exclaimed, "Please don't say we're considering that!" She gave Lenya a pleading look, but Lenya couldn't give her the reassurance she wanted.

"I do not like the idea of hurting the boy, but..." Wynne said, uneasily.

"Connor is my nephew, but... he is also possessed by a demon. Death would be... merciful," Teagan said and gave apolitical look to Isolde.

"No!" Isolde yelled and shook her head furiously, "What... what about the mage? He could know something of this demon! If he still lives, we could speak to him!" She then continued desperately. It seemed she would grasp at anything that might provide alternative.

"He's still in his cell," Lenya said, "I would have brought him along, but he was a bit squeamish on fighting undead monsters so I left him there."

"Then we should bring him here immediately," Isolde said, "I... I do not know how much we can trust him, but we must find out what he knows," She continued, "Teagan, could you find him?"

"Alistair, go with Teagan," Lenya ordered before Teagan had time to answer Isolde.

"Why?" Alistair asked, looking confused.

"Because you are a templar and can keep a mage better in check than Teagan can," Lenya replied and Alistair managed to look embarrassed.

Leliana stood next to her after Alistair and Teagan were gone, "You can't consider killing a little child."

"It may not be my decision to make, lethallan," Lenya replied, "I can't leave the demon alive here so unless Jowan can give me an alternative, the only way to destroy it, is to kill the child," She did not even try to make things sound better than they were or give false hope to Leliana or to Isolde.

Teagan and Alistair returned shortly with Jowan.

"You're lucky to be alive, Jowan, after all you've done," Isolde said as soon as she saw Jowan, but Lenya only raised her hand to stop the woman continuing. Isolde's mouth snapped shut and a shocked expression appeared on her face and Lenya saw Alistair trying to hide his smile. Her Warden companion seemed to enjoy it when she was bossing Isolde.

"What can you tell me about the demon Connor summoned and can you give me any alternative for killing the boy?" Lenya asked from the apostate. She watched at Isolde when she said that Connor had summoned the demon and saw her starting to protest, but then Isolde saw that Lenya watched and her mouth snapped shut again.

"I don't know anything specific about the demon itself," Jowan replied, "I know it needs to be destroyed and killing Connor is... the easiest way to do that, certainly..." He continued and then seemed to notice Isolde's horrified expression, "But there is another way. A mage could confront the demon in the Fade, without hurting Connor himself."

That did sound like an alternative Lenya was looking, but she sensed that it was not so easy.

"What do you mean? Is the demon not within Connor?" Teagan asked and Lenya saw that he tried not to get his hopes up, but did not quite succeed in it.

"Not physically. The demon approached Connor in the Fade while he dreamt, and controls him from there. We can use the connection between them to find the demon," Jowan explained.

"You can enter the Fade, then? And kill the demon without hurting my boy?" Isolde asked hopefully.

"No, but I can enable another mage to do so. It normally requires lyrium and several mages, but I have... blood magic," Jowan said and his voice turned embarrassed in the end.

Even though Lenya was not a mage she knew what that meant. Without lyrium Jowan would need to draw the power from either from his own blood or from the blood of others. Most likely from others since he was needed to do the ritual and it would be bad if he fainted from blood loss in the middle of it.

"What's the difference?" Teagan inquired while Lenya was thinking.

"Lyrium provides the power for the ritual, but I can take that power from someone's life energy. This ritual requires a lot of it, however. All of it, in fact," Jowan explained.

"I knew there was a catch," Lenya sighed, but she did wonder if Jowan could take some of the energy from many people instead of just one person, "You said it needed all the life energy of one person, but couldn't you spread it and take a little bit from multiple persons?" She saw both Alistair and Wynne pale, but what she did not expect was that Jowan paled as well.

"I guess it could be possible, but I would not even dare to try something like that," Jowan shook his head, "I do not know how to end the ritual without killing the one who is giving the energy and I fear it would end up killing everyone involved in it."

"Not an option then," Lenya sighed, "Pity."

"So... someone must die?" Teagan's voice was uneasy, "Someone must be sacrificed."

"Yes, and then we send another mage into the Fade. I can't enter because I'm doing the ritual," Jowan said and then his voice drifted away, "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. It's... not much of an option."

"It's something to consider," Lenya said and was immediately interrupted by Alistair.

"What!?" Alistair exclaimed, "You can't be serious? Blood magic, Lenya, how can more evil be any help here? Two wrongs don't make a right!"

"I agree with Alistair," Wynne said, coming to Alistair's support, "We can't trust a blood mage with this kind of power."

"The preachy schoolmistress is against this. Why I'm not surprised," Morrigan said sarcastically, "With willing sacrifice I don't see any harm in it," She added to Lenya. Of course they did not have willing sacrifice, but Lenya agreed with Morrigan.

"Of course you would support something evil like this, you witch!" Alistair snapped at Morrigan and angrily stepped in front of her. After that the discussion deteriorated fast. Alistair continued to yell at her and Morrigan continued to mock him.

Lenya drew her sword and plunged it tip first into the stone floor, "Enough!" She shouted at the same time as her sword slid into the stone floor. Resulting cracking sound and Lenya's shout startled everyone in the room, "Do I have all your attention?" She asked and the resulting head nodding was almost furious, "Good," She said and pulled her sword from the floor and examined it, "Mikhail truly is a genius, not a single flaw," She smiled at her sword and then sheathed it, "As I said, Jowan's suggestion is something to consider."

"I agree," Isolde said and then drew a deep breath, "And I offer my own life. I will be the sacrifice," She offered calmly. Doing the first respectable thing since Lenya had seen her.

"What? Isolde, are you mad!?" Teagan asked incredulously, "Eamon would never allow this!"

Lenya saw that her companions were about to say something, but when she glared at them they suddenly decided that talking was overrated. Everyone tried to avoid looking at her or the cracked stone floor.

"Either someone kills my son to destroy that thing inside him or I give my life so my son can live. To me, the answer is clear," Isolde continued and Lenya nodded at her. She understood, "Connor is blameless in this. He should not have to pay the price."

"It... it's up to you, my friend. You know more about such things than I do, and it's your companion going into the Fade. The decision is yours," Teagan said.

"It always is," Lenya said and then she turned around and left the room. She needed some air and to feel the open sky over her head. How could anyone think inside these blasted castles - She wondered - No wonder Shems were how they were.

When she got out, she climbed on the wall and sat there. She stared at the blue sky and let her mind work.

Lenya could only see three different options. Either they killed the boy, that was easiest way for sure, just like Jowan had said, but easy options were not always the best. What if that would directly kill the Arl as well? Of course that was possibility on all the options they had, but in this the chance of it seemed greater.

Lenya herself would not be overly broken about the arl's death, but Alistair seemed to think he was needed if they wanted to have a chance on uniting Ferelden. Lenya being completely clueless about shemlen ways had to trust Alistair's word on that.

Then there was the option to let Jowan do the ritual. Unlike most of her companions Lenya did not view blood magic necessarily as evil. Dalish did forbid its use just like the chantry did, but Lenya herself thought that if you worked with your own blood it was okay to use it. Of course this time it would not be Jowan's own blood he would use, but Isolde's. Still, it was freely given.

Lenya would be lying if she'd say she was not tempted. Mainly because that would make Isolde go away for good. _'World would surely be better place for that, right?'_ - She chuckled at that thought, but as much as she did not like Isolde and her banshee like voice, she respected the woman. That offer to be the sacrifice had shifted the scales a lot in Lenya's eyes. Isolde was still annoying as hell and her voice probably got everyone's nerves, but she did not roll over and accept the fate. She was a fighter. Albeit, a really soft one.

Third option would require a trip to the Circle tower. She was fairly sure that she could get the mages to help. Irving had seemed a good leader and the templar's…well they could watch the mages here as well as they did in the tower. And they probably would be happy to get Jowan back. Poor bastard.

Problem was time, how long would Connor stay in the family quarters. How much death would follow if she left and the demon decided to make puppets out of all the castle folk. She doubted that Teagan could keep the demon from taking control again and same went with Isolde. Knights might fare better, but she doubted even they could hold out long.

The only way they could get to the Circle Tower in time would be if she left majority of her group here. Maybe taking one or two companions and loan a horse from the village; if there even was horses here.

It was a shame that the undead monsters had destroyed all the boats. Going through the lake would have saved a lot of time.

Her mind came to a stop. She already had decided apparently. It would be nice if her mind would at least once play ball and not go do decisions so sneakily.

She chuckled at that before she got up and headed back in.

* * *

><p>Alistair was about to follow Lenya, but Leliana stopped him, "She wants to be alone," Leliana said, "Whatever she will decide it's her call."<p>

"I promised myself that she will not have to carry all these burdens alone," Alistair said and tried to go after Lenya again.

"Can you order us to kill the boy abomination?" Sten asked suddenly, stopping Alistair like he suddenly had been struck by a lightning, "Can you kill him yourself?"

"What's that has to do..." Alistair started.

"Kadan knows how to command and what is needed," Sten said, respect towards Lenya in his voice was something new, "You do not," The lack of respect when he nodded towards Alistair was not unexpected.

"He is right," Leliana said and hardly could believe that she was agreeing with Sten, "These people are close to you and I don't think you can put aside your feelings and make the decisions that are needed," She continued and involuntary shiver went through her. She knew that Lenya could make this decision no matter how hard or personal it was.

"You were fast to say that you don't want Connor killed," Alistair pointed out.

"Yes and I haven't changed my mind about that. Lenya knows my opinion and I'm sure she will consider that as well when she decides things, but I am not a fool enough to go out there and try to force my point on her," Leliana said and then she pointed at the cracked stone floor, "If you go out there now and try to force your opinion on her, she just might do that to your head," She added and smiled. It had been very intimidating when Lenya had plunged her sword to the stone floor and even more intimidating to see that she had split the stone in two, with only her strength behind the sword. Yes, the sword was enchanted, but still. She shook her head a bit to clear it. She could think about that later. Keeping Alistair here was more important now, "She knows your opinion as well and knows the opinion of everyone in this room. Lenya is many things, but stupid is not one of them. You need to trust her."

"I do, but..."

Alistair started, but was interrupted by Sten again. "You either trust the Kadan or you do not," He said bluntly.

"You stay out of this conversation!" Alistair exclaimed at Sten, "I don't need any mysterious replies from some giant from distant island!" He added angrily.

"You might want to listen to that mysterious giant," Lenya's voice came from behind them, "He's more experienced in warfare than I am and he definitely is more experienced than you are."

"But this is not war," Alistair pointed out.

"Yes, it is," Lenya corrected, "Battlefield might have changed, but nevertheless you are in war that started at Ostagar and you are in it until the Archdemon is dead."

Alistair was ready to argue, but Lenya just lifted her finger and Alistair's mouth snapped shut.

"Did you figure out what to do?" Leliana asked out of curiosity and to save Alistair from further embarrassment.

Lenya just nodded and walked to the huge fireplace at the back of the room. She seemed to stare at the flames for a while before turning around, "I am going to the Circle tower and ask their help on destroying the demon within Connor. Tower is not far from here and they owe me."

"Indeed," Wynne said, visibly relieved that Lenya did not choose to do the ritual with Jowan. Wynne was not the only one who was relieved. Alistair seemed to sack in relief, "It should not be difficult to get what is needed, provided we have time."

"But what will happen here?" Isolde asked and Lenya nodded at her, approvingly. It was absolutely weird how Isolde had suddenly gained Lenya's approval, "Connor will not remain passive forever!" Isolde continued and Leliana saw that both Wynne and Alistair looked embarrassed, neither of them had thought about that.

"We need to leave immediately," Alistair said, "It is about three days journey to the tower from here," He started to move, but stopped when he saw Lenya shaking her head.

"You are not going," Lenya said.

"What!?" Alistair exclaimed.

"I said you are not going," Lenya repeated herself, "I will go and I'll take only one or two of you with me. Neither of those two is you."

"What? Why not?" Alistair asked, "I will not be left behind," He then decided and watched Lenya challengingly.

"You will stay and that is not negotiable," Lenya said, "Isolde is right and Connor won't stay passive forever and I need someone here who can deal with the demon if that happen. I need a templar here and since I'm going to the tower that leaves you."

Alistair looked like he would want to start argue, but then he seemed to deflate, "Who will you take with you, lethallan?" Leliana wanted to know.

"Up for the trip, ma vhenan'ara?" Lenya asked back.

"Always," Leliana smiled.

Abelas let out a bark and pushed his head against Lenya's leg, "Yes, you can come as well," Lenya smiled at the mabari, "And I think that makes it two," She added and Abelas barked in agreement.

"No," Alistair protested, "You can't go without us, It's too dangerous!"

"How is it being dangerous anything new?" Lenya asked curiously, "And if you even think, even for a second, to say that it's dangerous because we are women, by the Creators, I will make a woman out of you, with this," She pointed over her shoulder at one of her swords.

"I..." Alistair started and then tried to find support from others, but he was out of luck as everyone seemed to find something other to look at than Alistair, "You should at least take a mage with you," He muttered finally, defeated.

Leliana saw a possibility for a huge tragedy in that. She knew which mage Alistair meant and it was not Morrigan. Spending whole trip to the Circle guarding Lenya so she would not chop the head off from Wynne was not something Leliana would call fun.

Lenya studied Alistair for a moment and then nodded, "Morrigan, you'll come with us."

"T´is waste of time to try and save the boy, but I'll come with you," Morrigan said.

"Noted," Lenya nodded and then turned to Teagan, "Can you arrange horses for us?"

"I don't know," Teagan replied, "I have absolutely no idea how the castle's stables fare and if there are any horses still alive."

"I can lend my horse to you, my lady," Ser Perth said, "And I'm sure some of my knights can lend their horses to your companions,"

"I have no need for horses," Morrigan said, "I can keep up on my own," She would probably turn into a fast animal. Leliana envied her for that. How glorious it must be to experience the world as an animal.

"Good then," Lenya said and turned to Alistair and to the rest of their companions, "Your job here is to keep an eye on Connor. I hope we are back before he does anything, but if we are not and it looks that we might not get back in time... either kill Connor or do the ritual with Jowan," Then she looked at Sten and something seemed to move between those two and then Sten nodded, "We need to get going now," Lenya said then and looked at Ser Perth who motioned them to follow him.

* * *

><p>Sten watched as the Warden disappeared from the view. How odd it was that this elven woman had become <em>Kadan<em> to him. She was a woman, but there was no doubt that she was a warrior as well, no matter how unnatural it was; a great warrior. Those times when he had practiced against her, he could not hold back, at all, not like he did with the other Warden, but he knew that _Kadan_ had been holding herself back. It had become clear when she had been fighting in that dwarven arena.

The male Warden could be a better fighter, but he lacked the will to understand what it meant to be one. He also seemed to have some weird notions about honor and he kept mixing right and wrong to the things he needed to do instead of doing them.

Because of that it was not a surprise that _Kadan_ had asked him to carry out the killing of the demon child if her Warden companion was not able to do it.

The other Warden had started to talk with the old mage and judging from his frantic tone he complained about the duty _Kadan_ had left him. Sten had no wish to listen that so he left the room to the adjoining room where he'd seen some paintings.

While looking at the paintings Sten brought back in mind the meeting with the dwarf Dwyn who had bought _Asala_ from the miserable thief that had scavenged the battlefield.

Dwarf wouldn't even open the door to them, but _Kadan_ would have none of that and just kicked the door in. The dwarf had met them with two hirelings. Sten had immediately seen that those two were of no concern. Kadan alone could kill those two without trouble.

His honor had screamed of the death of this dwarf, but Kadan had held his anger in check. For _Bas_ to be able to do that, it was unthinkable, but there it was and the dwarf returned _Asala_ to _Kadan_ after she ordered him to do so. She really must be an _Ashkari_. Nothing else could explain how she had managed to find his soul in a country ravaged by war.

"She gave you the task of killing the child if Alistair can't do it," The assassin elf said behind him and disrupted his thoughts. Why did these people found constant need to state the facts was beyond his understanding, "I really like this silent and stoic thing you are doing," The elf continued with a tone he seemed to be using when he tried to bed anything that breathed.

"Hrmph!" Sten just grunted.

"I quite understand," The assassin elf nodded, "You must drive the women wild, back home."

Sten did not see any reason to say anything to the elf. His experience with him said that the elf would just continue prattle if he would deign to answer him.

"You are such a delight to talk to my giant friend," The elf said finally and left.

* * *

><p>Alistair saw Zevran return back to the main hall. Zevran had been watching Alistair intently since Lenya had left with Leliana and Morrigan. It had started to be really unsettling so he had been relieved when Zevran had followed Sten and left the room, but it seemed that the relief was short lived since Zevran returned already.<p>

It was not just Zevran, though, everyone seemed to watch him now and waited what he would do. Alistair wondered if Lenya felt like this when she was leading them. Of course no one watched Lenya since they all trusted her leadership. But even he himself did not fully trust his leadership.

He understood the reasons why Lenya had left him behind, but still he felt that he should be where Lenya was or something would go wrong. This, of course, was an absolutely stupid thing to feel. Lenya was more than capable of taking care of herself. Probably better than Alistair was taking care at himself.

He had complained to Wynne about how unfair it was that he was forced to stay behind, but that had not gone quite like he had imagined. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but for some reason he had thought that Wynne would agree with him because she argued with Lenya so often.

Instead of supporting him, Wynne gave him a lecture about duty and how he should do it without 'whining about it all the time'. That had made his ears burn from embarrassment. He also started to understand why Lenya disliked Wynne so much. There was a difference though. Unlike him, Lenya was fully committed to her duty and she certainly did not deserve Wynne lecturing her about it.

"Your ears are lovely shade of red my innocent templar," Zevran said and effectively brought him back to the present.

"Shut up!" He snarled before he could stop himself. With Zevran less you said to him, less you got back.

"Oh my, aren't we all strung up," Zevran laughed, "I offer my humble massaging skills to you my chaste friend. Perhaps I could offer you a back massage!" He continued his tone flirtatious.

"Leave the boy alone," Wynne said suddenly, coming to his aid, "He has enough to think about without you confusing him."

"Ah, too bad," Zevran said and turned to look at Wynne, "How about you then my darling Wynne, I'm sure we can find a suitable bed from the castle where we can drown each other in passion of the bodies that last for hours?" How could the insufferable man talk to an older woman like that? - Alistair had to bite his tongue so he would not go in Wynne's defense and ruin Wynne's attempt to save him from further suggestions Zevran would have no doubt given to him.

"Thank you, but I have to decline," Wynne said regally.

"You sure?" Zevran smiled, "Oh well, maybe I can find someone from this fine castle who want to play with me," He grinned and left the room.

"That man is really insufferable," Wynne said and shook her head, "Now, young man, you think about what I told you."

"I will," Alistair nodded and then he remembered something, "You were about to talk with Lenya about something, concerning your fainting this morning."

"And I shall talk with her when she gets back," Wynne said, obviously not going to talk about it with him.

"I hope you are not going to lecture her," Alistair said, "It's already hard enough to keep her leaving you standing somewhere on the road."

"Don't you worry about me, young man," Wynne said and smiled, "Lenya is practical and she won't leave me by the road as long as I'm being useful. No matter how much I annoy her."

"I wouldn't count on that," Alistair said, "She is practical yes, but you are really getting on her nerves and I'm not sure your worth is enough to ensure that she won't kick you out," He continued, "If you could at least stop treating her like a child."

"She is a child," Wynne said.

"No, she is not," Alistair snapped with more bite than he had meant, "I may be a child, but she is not. She may be young, but she is not a child and it is insulting for you to treat her as such and she knows more about duty than you do," He said with a sudden surge of courage. He did not know where he found the courage to speak Wynne like this, but he knew that it had to be done.

Wynne studied him intently, making him feel like he was on a hot cooking pan, "I consider what you have said, Alistair," Wynne said finally, "But I do not promise anything."

"You... ah... thank you," Alistair let out a relieved sigh.

"You like her a lot, don't you?" Wynne asked then.

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "She is the best friend I could hope for and certainly more than I deserve."

"Again, you give yourself too little credit," Wynne sighed, "You are a good friend to her as well and I think you are good influence for her."

"I doubt it," Alistair snorted, "And if there is any influencing happening it's from her to me," He added and removed his gloves so he could wipe the sweat off his face, "Anyway, I think I need to go talk to Teagan and Isolde."

"Of course," Wynne nodded, "Take care, Alistair."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is chapter 27 done. Plan was that this is the last chapter of the Redcliffe story line, but somehow there will be one more. **

**There's a lot of game dialogs in this chapter, but I didn't see a way to avoid it. As always they are altered a bit.**

**I always wondered why Jowan just didn't get the energy from more than one person so no one would die for the ritual. So I came up with this explanation.**

**It was close thing between going to the circle and letting Jowan do the ritual. Both were equally good for Lenya and I'm sure she would used Jowan's ritual if she'd not been in the Circle tower already.**

**Isolde gaining respect from Lenya was a surprise and so was Alistair gaining courage to tell Wynne that she needs to stop trying to lecture Lenya.**

**Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: And the chapter 28 is here. Redcliffe storyline is nearing its end. Finally.**

**I wish to thank all those who have read this far. Special thanks to those who have fav/alerted Lenya's story and very special thanks to those who reviewed.**

**For continued support and encouragement thanks with hugs to Faelan.**

**Huge thanks for beta reading goes to Killa1934.**

**Dragon Age and all you recognize belongs to Bioware. All you don't recognize belong to me. Lenya belongs to herself. **

* * *

><p>Riding a horse was 'almost' like riding a halla, but only 'almost'. The thing was that it had been a long time since Lenya had been doing any riding at all and her armor really did not make riding any easier. Not to mention the saddle really was a new thing for her. You didn't use saddles when you were riding with halla.<p>

When she finally gave up and called a stop, her ass was pretty much calling her an idiot; very clearly and painfully.

"I really envy you," Lenya said to Morrigan who just changed back to her human form. She had been flying above them as a hawk, "And you," She turned to look at Abelas who lay on the ground, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Lenya could tell that he was not overly tired.

"As do I," Leliana said, "It's been far too long since I have ridden a horse."

"I've never rode with a horse before," Lenya said, "And I think I would have preferred to walk if I'd know it kills my ass."

"You've never rode a horse before?" Leliana asked, looking at her incredulously.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "Before I left my clan I'd only seen horses from a far. Dalish have no use for them."

"From the way you handled Ser Perth's horse today I thought you had done this before," Leliana said.

"I've always been good with animals," Lenya shrugged and started to remove the saddle from her horse, "Stop that," She giggled and pushed the horse's muzzle gently away from her ear it had started to nuzzle, "Anyone ever told you that we elves have very sensitive ears, you big oaf," She added and gently brushed her hand against the horse's muzzle. Horse started to lick and playfully nibble at her hand, "I'll give you apples after I get these things off your back," She promised to the horse.

* * *

><p>Leliana almost forgot to unsaddle her own horse since she watched Lenya so intently. In fact she did forget it and her Gelding reminded her of that by pushing her with his head and nearly toppled her over.<p>

"T'is sickening to watch you," Morrigan muttered to her and left. To her surprise Morrigan had already set her own fire bit further from them. Leliana was not sure why she had expected her to stay with her and Lenya; it had been a silly assumption. She shook her head to her own stupidity and went back to remove saddle from her horse.

When she was done with her horse, Lenya had already set up a tent. Leliana tried to find her tent, but couldn't see it anywhere, "Lenya?"

"Yes lethallan?" Lenya replied.

"Where's my tent?" Leliana asked.

"Probably in Redcliffe," Lenya smiled, "I only took two with us and since Morrigan likes her peace we need to share this one," She explained and then she turned unsure, "It... it's not a problem is it?" She asked hesitantly.

Leliana was not sure she could 'just' sleep if they shared a tent with no one near to hear them, but she was damn sure that it would be too soon for Lenya. _'You've slept with her in the same tent before__,'_ - She reminded herself. _'Yes, when she was wounded__,'_ - another voice countered.

"Lethallan?" Lenya said and watched her worriedly, "I can sleep outside if it's a problem," She then offered.

_'Oh great!__'_ - Leliana thought, _'Now you made her feel like you would not like to share a tent with her,__'_ - She cursed in her mind, _'Stop cursing and say something you idiot!'_ - That other voice urged her, "No!" She blurted out, startling Lenya, "I mean, no, it's not a problem that we share a tent."

Lenya studied her skeptically, "Are you sure?" She asked, "Because you do look bit wild eyed there."

"Yes, I'm sure, lethallan," Leliana replied, "I just have overactive imagination that plays tricks on me."

"What has...?" Lenya started and then her eyes went wide, "Oh?"

"Pretty much," Leliana chuckled and stepped in front of Lenya, "I'll manage," She said and leaned in to give Lenya a kiss. She did not want to push Lenya to go faster than she was comfortable, but sometimes her body just wanted to skip straight to the... - _'__Dear Maker her lips are so soft__.' - 'O__kay, kissing Lenya while thinking about sex... not a good idea, at the moment anyway__.'_

"Slowly?" Lenya asked smiling.

"Uh-huh," Leliana managed, "I... I think... I think I need a... bath," She muttered, "I saw a lake nearby."

"Of course," Lenya smiled at her, "A bath," Then she grinned at her, "I'll see what kind of food I can make," She then left, leaving Leliana just standing there.

"She's evil," Leliana muttered and then went to get her towel from her bag.

* * *

><p>Lenya started to cook the night's meal, but soon found out that it was no use. Her mind was somewhere else than food.<p>

When she had decided to take only two tents, she had not been thinking what it might mean to sleep in the same tent with Leliana. It had just been her practical side thinking back then when. Morrigan refused to sleep in the same tent or room with anyone so she needed her own tent. Leliana and her had shared a tent and even a room before so it had been only practical to take only one tent for them to share. No need to take more supplies than they needed.

Of course now that Leliana had made her think what it might mean, it was pretty much the only thing she could think, "Oh crap!" She cursed and got up and followed the trail Leliana had left to the lake.

Without her armor Lenya was as silent as any thief and the forest was her element so it didn't take long before she stood at the edge of the forest and watched at Leliana who was bathing. _'This is a mistake__! __You need to leave right away__!'_ - One part in her admonished her, but she ignored it.

Leliana was standing in the water so that Lenya could only see her silhouette and what she saw made her mouth dry out. Unlike elven women who tend to be small and slender, Leliana was very... ample. Of course she'd know that, but to see Leliana like this, without her clothes obstructing her view... "By the Creators," She whispered when Leliana turned and she saw her from front. She had to wipe her mouth, just to make sure she was not drooling.

She barely remembered to breathe as she watched Leliana bathing and when Leliana got out of the water Lenya knew that she should leave, but was unable to make her body comply.

When Leliana was drying herself with her towel she turned so Lenya could see her back and every naughty thought disappeared from Lenya's mind. Leliana's back was covered in scars.

Lenya must have made some sound since Leliana turned to look at her direction, "Who's there?" Leliana asked and covered herself with the towel and took dagger from the ground.

Lenya thought for a moment that she should stay hidden, but she dismissed that and stepped at the beach, "It's just me."

"Lenya," Leliana smiled, but then her expression turned horrified, "How long have you been there?"

"For a while," Lenya replied and embarrassment turned her ears red, "I followed you pretty soon after you left and when I got here I... I stayed to watch as you bathed," She explained, not even trying to make her actions look like something else than what they had been.

"Then you saw..." Leliana started and Lenya was sure she was holding back tears.

"Your scars," Lenya finished the sentence and nodded, "Yes, I saw."

Leliana watched her with horrified expression and before Lenya could do anything she bolted away towards the camp, wearing only her towel.

"Great work, Lenya," Lenya muttered to herself and then gathered Leliana's clothes.

When she returned to the camp she was greeted by Abelas who gave her a disapproving look, "Yes, I know," She said to him in elvish, "Where is she?" She asked then and Abelas turned to look at the tent, "Thank you."

When she got closer to the tent, she hesitated, not quite knowing what to do, "Leliana?" She called out hesitantly, but didn't get any answer, "Can I come in?" She asked then. When she did not get any answer at all she lowered Leliana's clothes on the ground, "I'll leave your clothes here, lethallan," Then she turned to leave.

"Lenya," Leliana's voice, barely a whisper, came from the tent, "Don't go," She pleaded and then opened up the tent flap, "Come in."

Lenya hesitated only a moment before she gathered Leliana's clothes again and got inside the tent. Leliana was sitting at the far corner, wrapped in her towel and hugging her legs to her chest.

"I..." Lenya started and sat at the other side of the tent, not wanting to impose herself on the already shaken woman she had started to love, "I'm sorry," She said, "I should have not spied on you," She added miserably.

"No," Leliana shook her head, "I don't mind you watching me," She smiled a little, "It's just that no one... no one has ever seen..."

Lenya wanted nothing more than to go and comfort Leliana, but she dared not to move. So she would not startle Leliana again.

"No one has ever seen the scars at my back," Leliana said finally, "Not even the Revered mother in Lothering."

"What happened?" Lenya asked quietly.

Leliana took a deep breath and locked her eyes on the tent wall, "I lied to you, you know? About why I left Orlais," She said finally. She avoided Lenya's eyes, only taking a peek to see how Lenya reacted.

"You didn't actually tell me anything about why you left Orlais," Lenya pointed out, "You gave me few shaky excuses and then changed the subject," She added, for a bard Leliana had been very obvious with the fact that there was more to it, "So I knew you weren't telling me something."

"I didn't feel like talking about it then. What happened to me... maybe it will affect us, maybe not, but you should know," Leliana said, still looking straight ahead and only briefly looking at Lenya, "I came to Ferelden and the Chantry because I was being hunted, in Orlais."

"Hunted?" Lenya asked, confused, "What for?"

"I was framed, betrayed by someone I thought I knew and could trust. Marjolaine-she was my mentor... and friend," Leliana replied, "She taught me the bardic arts-how to enchant with words and song, to carry myself like a high-born lady, to blend in as a servant..." She continued and Lenya let her speak without interruption, "The skills I learned I used to serve her, my bard-master, because I loved her, and because I enjoyed what I did."

"So you were dutiful, but you still got in trouble?" Lenya asked.

"You can say it was my fault," Leliana shrugged, "There was a man I was sent to kill. I was to bring Marjolaine everything he carried. I don't know who this man was. She gave me a name and description, and I hunted him down. I found documents on his body-sealed documents," She explained in a matter of fact tone.

Lenya started to see where Leliana's tale was heading, "You opened them, didn't you?"

"My curiosity got better of me," Leliana smiled sadly a little, but when she continued her voice was serious, "Something told me that I needed to know what was in those letters."

"And that something was right?" Lenya asked and Leliana nodded.

"Marjolaine... had been selling all kinds of information about Orlais to the other countries-Nevarra and Antiva, among others. It was a treason," Leliana explained.

"Isn't that what bards do?" Lenya asked, confused. What she'd understood from the explanation Leliana had given her about the bards they were spies and what Marjolaine had done sounded a lot like spying.

"Some," Leliana nodded, "But I had always assumed Marjolaine only operated within Orlais. This was an unhappy surprise for me," She explained, "My life as a bard taught me that my loyalties should be kept fluid. My concern was not that she was a traitor, but that her life would be in danger if she was caught. Orlais has been at war with so many countries. It takes a harsh view of such things... as I later discovered."

"Did you give the documents to someone?" Lenya wanted to know.

"To Marjolaine. No one else," Leliana replied, "I resealed them and gave them to her, as she had instructed."

"You told her about them, didn't you?" Lenya inquired gently. She knew that Leliana was very protective of her friends and probably even more so to those she loved. There was no way Leliana would have left the issue alone if she thought her mentor and love could be in danger.

"I should have left well alone, but I didn't," Leliana sighed, "I had to tell Marjolaine I feared for her life."

"She told you it was nothing, didn't she?" Lenya guessed.

Leliana nodded, "She brushed aside my concern. She admitted her guilt, but said it was in the past. That is why the documents had to be destroyed, she said," She said, "I believed her. I kept believing, up till the moment they showed me the documents, altered by her hand to make me look the traitor," Tears started to flow from Leliana's eyes as she spoke.

"That bitch!" Lenya exclaimed and everything could be damned, but she was not going to just sit there and let Leliana cry without trying to comfort her. She moved and embraced Leliana. Leliana stiffened at first, but then she curled against Lenya and cried.

Lenya had no idea how long she sat there, holding Leliana as she cried, but eventually the sobs ended and silence seemed to fill the tent, "Who are 'they'?" Lenya asked after the silence had gone for a while.

"The Orlesian guards," Leliana replied quietly, her voice still shaky from the crying, "They captured me... did terrible things to make me confess and reveal my conspirators," Lenya did not inquire more details of what the guards did. She could imagine what had happen all too well. Not all the stories told by the Dalish were pleasant ones and the scars on Leliana's back told more than clearly how brutal it had been. Lenya was clenching her teeth and her vision was bathed in blue light. If she would ever get anyone of those people who had hurt her bard in her grasp... "It was a traitor's punishment I endured, and at the end of it, all that awaited me was eternity in an unmarked grave," Leliana continued to speak.

"How did you escape?" Lenya asked as gently as she could. Keeping the anger, she felt towards those who had wronged Leliana, out of her voice was not easy though.

"I had a little help in getting out of my cell," Leliana replied, she had started to draw little circles on Lenya's arm. That touch started to eat away the anger that seethed inside Lenya, "And at least the skills Marjolaine taught me were good at something," She let out a tired laugh.

"And you never sought revenge on Marjolaine for this?" Lenya asked incredulously. She knew herself well enough that she would have gone after the woman and exacted revenge from the bitches hide tenfold.

"I did not seek Marjolaine out," Leliana shook her head, "If she thought I was coming for her, she would have me caught again," Shiver seemed to go through Leliana and she clutched Lenya a bit tighter, "I was tempted to confront her; I was furious, betrayed... but what could I do against her?" Hopelessness on Leliana's voice made Lenya want to go find Marjolaine and strangle her with her bare hands.

"And so you came to Ferelden, to Lothering," Lenya said, wanting to get Leliana's mind of the horrible things.

"Yes, I fled, to Ferelden, to the Chantry and the Maker," Leliana replied, "Ferelden protected my person, and the Maker saved my soul," She added, "And that is the reason I am here. The real reason. No more lies between us, at least in this."

"No," Lenya smiled a bit, "Reason you are here is because I was spying on you while you bathed and you freaked out when you found out."

"True," Leliana chuckled a little. Sound of Leliana's chuckle touched Lenya in ways she could not describe, 'By the Creators I love that sound' - She thought, "It feels good to have this off my chest," Leliana said and then she moved her head so they were face to face, "Thank you for listening, and understanding," She said and gave Lenya a gentle kiss before she returned to snuggle on Lenya's lap, "This feels good," She said and then yawned, "I could... just... fall... aslee...p... her..."

Lenya watched as Leliana's breathing got heavier and she drifted in sleep, "You are safe with me, my heart," Lenya whispered in her own language.

* * *

><p>When Leliana woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she was not sleeping in her own bedroll. She was in fact sleeping in Lenya's lap. Next thing she noticed, was that she was wearing no clothes at all, only a towel.<p>

When Leliana looked up she was greeted by a pair of blue eyes looking down on her, "Morning, Ma vhenan," Lenya smiled.

"Morning," Leliana said and then realized that, if it was morning she had slept like this whole night and that... Lenya had been sitting there holding her that whole time, "Please tell me that you did not stay like that the whole night," She said. The position Lenya was in had to be uncomfortable.

"Okay, I won't say it," Lenya replied.

"Why did you not wake me?" Leliana asked and sat up, "That doesn't look very comfortable."

"There is no place I would have rather been last night," Lenya said, "No position I would rather been than holding you in my arms and keeping you safe while you slept," She added and touched Leliana's cheek with her hand, "Ma vhenan."

Tears threatened to blur her vision as her head spun from the sheer force of the emotion Lenya's words awakened in her. There was no hidden meanings, no manipulation in Lenya's words; she meant every word she said.

"I... I don't...!" Leliana started, but there were no words to describe what she felt, just then and there. So she leaned over and kissed Lenya.

The kiss started as a light touch of their lips, but that lasted only for a moment before she could feel Lenya's arms circle her and pull her into a tighter embrace and the kiss deepened.

At some point she felt Lenya's hand start to wander on her skin and she could feel the heat starting to build up within her. Fleeting thought went through her mind telling her that they were supposed to take it slow, but it was gone before it had even properly formed, erased by the near torturing touch of Lenya's fingertips traveling on her skin.

Then the tent flap bursted inside and Abelas rushed in. His head tilted aside and tongue lolled out of his mouth. He let out an excited bark and his tiny tail moved furiously.

"Abelas..." Lenya pulled out of the kiss, her breathing hard and her cheeks flustered, "Very bad timing!" She almost growled at the mabari.

"Or maybe it was a good timing," Leliana said, her breathing was not any less labored and she was probably even more annoyed about the interruption, but part of her wanted their first time be perfect and not happening like this.

"Perhaps..." Lenya admitted, "But at the moment I want to strangle him," She added and gave Abelas a hard glare. Abelas lowered his head to the ground and tried to look very apologetic. He emphasized it by letting out a quiet whimper. His effort was ruined by enthusiastically wagging tail.

Leliana chuckled, "You could never do that to him," She said, "Look at how cute he is."

"He's too smart for his own good," Lenya muttered, still unhappy about the interruption, but Leliana saw that corners of her mouth were tugging as she tried to hold smile away from her lips. Lenya was right though, Abelas was too smart for his own good. '..._Smart enough not to speak_, indeed.' He was like four legged Morrigan.

Abelas, who came to the conclusion that he was forgiven let out a happy bark and then darted out of the tent.

"You better put your clothes on," Lenya said, "Or I might just continue what I was about to do before Abelas came in," She added and her eyes wandered on Leliana's naked body, making Leliana blush and lift her towel up.

"Perhaps you should go wait outside," Leliana managed shyly. She'd never been this conscious of her body before.

"You might be right," Lenya said and got up, "By the Creators!" She breathed when she was up and her eyes went wide.

"What?" Leliana asked, worriedly.

"My ass feels like Fen'Harel had been using it as a chew toy," Lenya replied and she stumbled out of the tent. Leliana heard her continue cursing. It was probably because of the riding and because Lenya had just sat on the hard ground all night that she was stiff.

Leliana started to pull her clothes on, but she stopped it for a moment and let her mind linger on Lenya's touch. She could still feel Lenya's fingers on her skin. Gently brushing and sending tendrils of pleasure through her.

"Damn you, Abelas," She whispered and pulled rest of her clothes on.

When she finally stepped out of the tent she was greeted by Morrigan, "T'is 'bout time you wake up," The witch said, "You think I enjoy staying on watch the whole night?"

"Enough, Morrigan," Lenya interrupted behind Leliana, "Abelas did the guarding last night as I instructed him to," Lenya said and Abelas let out a bark that could be only describe as a dutiful, "It's not my fault if you did not feel secure enough and decided to keep watch..." Lenya turned to look at Abelas and something moved between them, "... as a bird in a tree," She turned to look at Morrigan, "You really flew up in there and kept watch as a bird?"

Leliana felt miserable as she listened Lenya and Morrigan talk. Because she slept the whole night the others had not been able to sleep at all. Not even Lenya whose lap she had slept on.

"We seem to be alive and no one attacked us so you can stop complaining," Lenya continued. Leliana must have missed Morrigan's reply, "You were hardly in danger anyway in that tree."

"Fine, have it your way," Morrigan snorted and left towards her own fire.

"She is right to be angry," Leliana said, "Because of me..." She started, but Lenya put her finger on her lips and silenced her protests.

"Not because of you," Lenya shook her head, "I made the decision to stay in the tent and rely only on Abelas as a guard," She continued, "And I told Morrigan that she should keep herself safe. The fact that she kept watch the whole night as a bird was a surprise, but that is not your fault either," Lenya continued and Leliana wanted to argue about it, but she knew that this was a fight she could not win. Mainly because in deep down she knew that Lenya was right. Only thing she was guilty of was falling asleep, "Only thing you are guilty of is falling asleep," Lenya said and Leliana's head snapped up. Did Lenya read her mind? - She wondered, "I, however could be held responsible of all the things you are trying to blame yourself with."

"But..." Leliana tried, but was silenced again by Lenya, with a kiss this time.

"T'is sickening to watch," Leliana heard Morrigan comment.

"Then don't watch," Lenya scoffed, "Or you could talk with Wynne about it. I'm sure she will be happy that you two can share this dislike for my relationship with Leliana," She suggested then, "Think about how nice it would be to chat with Wynne each evening about how childish and stupid I am."

"Hrmph!" Morrigan snorted and again left them alone.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Leliana asked and smiled.

"I have absolutely no idea what do you mean," Lenya said and then she grinned, "But... Yes I did."

"I thought so," Leliana smiled again, "I think we should get going, I fear that if we delay the demon will force the issue in Redcliffe and I'm not sure if Alistair can do what needs to be done."

"You are right, we do need to hurry, but you don't need to worry about our companions in Redcliffe," Lenya assured her and started to dismantle the tent, "If Alistair can't do what is required or Wynne tries to talk him out of it, I left Sten the instructions to slay the abomination."

"You didn't trust Alistair?" Leliana asked and joins in dismantling the tent.

"I do trust him, but he has never been forced to choose life or death of someone close to him. If he hesitates too long we may not have a Redcliffe to come back to," Lenya replied, "So I instructed Sten to step in if that happen."

"You didn't tell Alistair about that?" Leliana asked.

"Of course not," Lenya snorted, "If he thinks I don't trust him he just goes back to following me like a puppy."

"The idiot does that anyway," Morrigan joined the conversation. Somehow she already had packed her tent away and was ready to move, "Are you two done playing home?" She asked accusingly.

"Not really," Lenya shook her head, "Hard to be done when we never even began it," She added smiling innocently, "But if you meant if we have done packing then we are not quite done yet as you can see."

Leliana hid her smile. Lenya was the only one who could get even with Morrigan and it was always entertaining. It was almost as entertaining as watching when Oghren's tried to bed the witch.

"I'll be up there," Morrigan said like Lenya had not even said anything to her. Then the air shimmered around her and her form changed to a hawk.

"That must be great," Lenya said wistfully and followed the hawk with her eyes, "We better get these packed and get on our way," She said, "I really don't want her to come back again and ask if we are ready."

"I'd prefer that as well;" Leliana smiled and they got to work.

Ten minutes later they were riding towards the Circle Tower. If all went well they should arrive there before dusk and with luck they would be on their way back the next morning.

* * *

><p>Alistair was standing in the castle wall and watched the road leading up to the castle. He had barely slept since Lenya had left, almost four days ago. If all had gone well Lenya should be on her way back and hopefully she had the mages with her.<p>

"You should go to sleep," Wynne's motherly and lecturing voice said behind him, "You do no one favors if you fall down from exhaustion."

"I can't sleep," Alistair said, "I tried, but I keep waking up as soon as I am starting to fall into a deeper sleep," He explained. He felt the Fade all too clearly here. Sometimes the templar training was a pain in the ass.

"Are you afraid that things will go wrong if you sleep?" Wynne asked.

"I guess," Alistair shrugged, "Mainly I think it's the closeness of the Fade and I am also worrying my ass off about..."

"About Lenya," Wynne finished his sentence and he nodded, "She will come back with the help we need," She assured him, "If there is anyone in Ferelden who can get the mages and templars to help her it's Lenya."

Alistair turned to look at Wynne, "That is... surprising, coming from you," He said and studied the old mage curiously.

"I may not agree with her on some things, but I do respect her skills and her ability to unite disparate groups to her cause," Wynne smiled, "It's rather curious when you think about it. She has no diplomatic skills, she hates most humans she meets and despises politicking, but still she moves through them with almost effortless ease and secures their help against the Blight."

"It's hard to say no to her when she threatens to cut your head off," Alistair chuckled, "Luckily she is not as angry as she was when I saw her the first time. We would have a lot of headless humans here if she was still like that," He said and then lifted his eyes on Wynne's, "Most of that is because of Leliana, she calms Lenya."

"There is possibility of great tragedy there," Wynne said and then she sighed, "But I suspect that Lenya knows it... perhaps even better than this old woman."

"None of us knew what she had to go through in the Fade," Alistair said, "You could have not known," He comforted Wynne.

"You don't have to comfort me," Wynne smiled, "I acted on the knowledge I had and even though the lesson was already known to Lenya, I was not wrong to speak up."

"And what is the purpose of these lectures you are giving her?" Alistair asked.

"To prepare her for her role as a Grey Warden," Wynne replied.

"Not to be ungrateful, but I don't think it's working," Alistair said and rolled his eyes, "And more to the point I don't think she needs to prepare for it. She is natural at it."

"Perhaps," Wynne said, but before she could continue a shout from the tower alerted them, "I think Lenya is returning."

"Where?" Alistair asked and tried to see if anyone was moving on the road. He could not see anything there.

"At the lake," Wynne pointed down on the village of Redcliffe and sure enough there was a large boat near the shore there and smaller boat was moving towards the shoreline, "I'm impressed," Wynne said and shook her head in disbelief.

"Why?" Alistair asked. He did not see anything impressive on the boats.

"I would not think she could persuade Gregoir to lend her the use of those ships," Wynne replied, "Those are for templar use only."

"We better go meet them and find out if Gregoir is still breathing," Alistair suggested and they both started to move towards the stairs.

When they got to the main hall Lenya and Irving were already there. Alistair could not see any other mages around, but he saw Gregoir standing near Jowan.

"Who do you want to send in the Fade?" Irving asked from Lenya when Alistair and Wynne stepped inside the hall.

"I had not considered it yet," Lenya replied.

"I can have one of my mages do it, but I think it would be better if you decide it," Irving said, "It seems that the Lady Isolde trusts you more than she does us."

Lenya seemed to considered that for a while and then nodded, "In that case I think Wynne would be best suited for this, if she agrees to it that is," Lenya said and looked Wynne questioningly.

"I would be honored," Wynne replied and smiled, "And in that case I think I need to go to prepare," She added and left them.

"I'm glad you are back," Alistair said to Lenya after Wynne was gone.

"Worried that you have to beat the Blight all on your own?" Lenya smiled.

"Maker, I would not wish that fate on anyone," Alistair grinned at her and then looked around, "Where's Leliana?"

"She wanted to stay and see that the mages and templars get our horses to the shore safely," Lenya replied and turned to face Irving, "Do you need us for the ritual?"

"We are prepared for all possible outcomes, but it would not hurt to have you there as well," Irving replied, "You have shown remarkable strength of will by resisting demons here and before in the Circle. It would be foolish not to use a resource like that."

"We'll be there," Lenya nodded.

"Hopefully we don't need to kill Wynne if she goes and turns into an abomination as well," Alistair muttered.

"She's too stubborn to succumb to demons," Lenya snorted.

"Ah, been on the receiving end of Wynne's lectures, I see," Irving laughed, "I would appreciate it if you would not kill her," He added and grinned at Lenya.

"I promise that if she annoys me too much, instead of beheading her I just leave her standing by the road," Lenya promised.

"I thank you for that," Irving smiled, "She is really good with the children and I would hate to lose her."

"She just doesn't know the difference between an adult and a child," Lenya said.

"When you get older that line tends to get a little blurry," Irving smiled at Lenya.

"And here I thought that the old people were the wise ones," Lenya chuckled at Irving.

"No, we just think we are and use the gray hair as a weapon to make the younger ones think so too," Irving replied.

While he watched those two casually talking, Alistair could not really fathom how at ease Lenya was when she talked with Irving. Irving was the only human outside their group Lenya seemed to respect.

"I knew it!" Lenya exclaimed with feigned anger, "You sneaky old people!" She added accusingly. Her eyes betrayed her though. They held amusement.

"Now behave and I don't send you to your room," Irving continued and then they both started to laugh.

Alistair could only shake his head. He would never be able to fully understand Lenya.

A young mage approached Irving and Lenya. Her movements were a bit hesitant, "Yes?" Irving asked when he noticed her.

"We are ready to start, First Enchanter," The young mage said.

"Ah, good, the faster we get this done the happier I am," Irving said, "Please follow me," He motioned to Lenya and Alistair.

They all followed the young mage out of the hall.

* * *

><p>Lenya stood at the highest tower she could find from the Castle Redcliffe and watched the stars. From what Irving and Gregoir said the ritual to save Connor had been successful. Boy himself had no memory of the time he'd been under the demons influence. Like Teagan had said; it was a blessing.<p>

Arl Eamon had not wakened from his comatose state, but neither had he died. Whatever the demon had done to him had stopped the poison, but also still kept him unconscious.

And now Lenya had apparently agreed to go and find the ashes of a woman who had died hundreds of years ago. That itself told much about her own mental state. She must be completely out of her mind to even consider something like that and there she had been, happily... well not happily but at least not unhappily telling Isolde and Teagan that she would do it.

"I am completely and utterly insane!" Lenya said aloud, "There is no other explanation. I probably hit my head too hard at some fight and now I think chasing myths is a good idea."

"There is no question that you are completely and utterly insane, mon coeur," Leliana said behind her, "That is one of your most interesting qualities,"

"How comforting," Lenya chuckled, "What brings you up here, ma vhenan?"

"You," Leliana replied and circled her hands around Lenya's waist and embraced her and rested her chin on Lenya's shoulder, "Stars are out," Leliana said and they both looked up in the night sky.

"There is still beauty to be found in this world," Lenya said and leaned against Leliana's body, trusting her to keep her from falling.

"It comforts me to know that the stars will remain untouched by the Blight- that whatever happens down here, they will shine eternally, their light undimmed," Leliana said her voice and breath caressed Lenya's ear in a way that made her shiver, "There is a story about that cluster of stars over there," Leliana pointed in the sky, "Do you know it? Alindra and her soldier?"

"I can't say I've heard it," Lenya said and she knew that even if she'd heard it she would have said no, just so she could hear Leliana tell that story to her.

"A long time ago, there lived a fair maiden called Alindra," Leliana started to tell the story, just like Lenya had wanted, "She had many suitors, but spurned them all, for she did not love them," Leliana shifted her body a bit so they both were more comfortable, "One day, Alindra was sitting by her window in her father's castle, singing and dreaming, when her lovely voice caught the attention of a young soldier," Like always when she listened Leliana's stories she could see them happening in front of her eyes, "Entranced by her song, the soldier drew near to Alindra's window. As their eyes met, he fell in love with her, and she with him."

Lenya could easily relate to that soldier. She was as entranced by Leliana's voice as the soldier in the story was for Alindra's voice. Leliana's voice was like magic to her.

"When Alindra told her father about the man she had chosen, he was furious, for Alindra was high-born, but her love nothing more than a common soldier," The story continued, "To keep them apart, he had Alindra imprisoned in the highest tower of his castle and sent her soldier to the wars," Typical man, Lenya thought, they were always locking women up in the stories, "Alas, not a month had passed before news of the soldier's death reached Alindra. Alone in her tower, Alindra wept for her love and beseeched the gods to deliver her from this cruel world," Lenya liked that part, this lady did not pray for the Maker, but gods, in plural. Maybe this was a tale from ancient times when elves were still free, "So earnest was her plea that the gods themselves were moved. They gathered Alindra into their arms and lifted her high into the heavens, where she became a star," Lenya sighed at that. She always got emotional with these kind of stories.

"The gods also raised up the soul of Alindara's soldier love and there he dwells, across the horizon from her," In her mind Lenya changed the soldier to be a woman, "The band of stars between them is a river of Alindra's tears, cried for her lost love. They say that when Alindra has cried enough, she will be able to cross the river to be reunited with her soldier," Leliana finished the story.

They watched the stars in silence for a while before Lenya broke it, "That's a beautiful story."

"This story is one of my favorites, a tale of a love so great and so enduring that it defies death, and moves the gods to action," Leliana said, "Sometimes I ask myself, does such a love exist? Can it exist?"

"If we lose hope in love, then we are truly lost," Lenya said, her voice serious.

"I never expected you to say that," Leliana whispered to her ear, "It is... a pleasant surprise."

Lenya smiled, "I'm secretly a terrible romantic," Then she turned around to face Leliana, "Don't tell the others I said that."

"Of course not, It will be our secret," Leliana giggled, "I have to say there is certain severity to you," She said, "Finding a person behind that all is nice," She continued, "Maybe you should let your softer side show more often. Sometimes following your heart, not your head, leads you to remarkable places."

"My softer side, is for you alone, Ma vhenan," Lenya said and then kissed Leliana. After the kiss ended Lenya turned again and leaned against Leliana and they returned to watch the stars.

* * *

><p>Teagan and Isolde had both been grateful for all they had done so they had no need to use their own coins to resupply themselves and even though the village had suffered in the hands of the demon the villagers were more than happy to lend a hand.<p>

When they left the village and took the road that would take them into the Denerim everyone seemed to be in a happy mood. Well, except Morrigan. For some reason the witch was giving disapproving looks to Lenya.

"What's got into her knickers?" Alistair finally asked and nodded towards Morrigan, "Abelas did not put a dead hare there again did he?"

"No, it's not Abelas this time," Lenya replied, "Or at least I think it's not," She gave Abelas a questioning look and the mabari let out a hurtful whine. He obviously was gravely insulted that they had suspected him, "No, not his doings this time."

"Then what?" Alistair asked, but Lenya just ignored him now.

"Morrigan disapproved how Lenya decided to use the money we saved since Teagan and the villagers resupplied us," Leliana answered and she now got a disapproving look from Lenya. Leliana smiled at her and then continued, "Lenya gave quite a nice sum to Kaytlin and her brother so they could make a trip to the Denerim and find their relatives."

That surprised Alistair and he turned to look at Lenya who was looking anywhere else, but to them. He heard Lenya muttering something about bards not knowing when to keep a secret. Leliana obviously heard it too since she grinned at Alistair.

"I can see how the witch would not like that," Alistair said and then decided to drop the issue, "I know I said we should try to help Eamon, but is it really wise for us to go to the Denerim?"

"We should be alright as long as we disguise ourselves a bit," Lenya replied, "Mainly I think we need to cover our armor somehow or I do at least. I doubt we could stay hidden long if I go there openly while wearing this," She added and pointed at her armor, "I would leave it off altogether, but I might need it if things don't go as planned."

"Sounds reasonable," Alistair nodded, "You think it will be enough?"

"There is one other thing," Lenya said, "One very crucial other thing," She continued, "You need to appear to be leading us there."

"What? Why?" Alistair asked and dread appeared in his stomach.

"Think it through, Alistair," Lenya just suggested.

"I don't... Oh!" Alistair started and then it hit him. In the city ruled by humans and where humans thought elves to be little more than servants, Lenya leading them would reveal them really fast. He had been with Lenya so long that it didn't seem at all strange that she lead them. He should have though, since it had been barely a week when Teagan had struggled to comprehend that elf was leading them.

"I see you got it," Lenya smiled at him, "I am touched, that you had to think about it."

"You're welcome... I think," Alistair said.

"I think you and I should still mostly stay out of sight," Lenya said, "We know that Loghain has a general idea of what we look or this Howe has at least. Zevran said it was he who did the hiring. Loghain just approved it."

"You think they know how our companions look?" Alistair asked.

"They might know, but more than likely they have only descriptions of you two and then they have added something like 'they may travel with others'" Leliana replied, "The fact that Lenya, an elf, is leading us and that she is so noticeable works to our advantage. They might know how you look, but most will just dismiss our group because they are looking for a group led by an elven woman."

"Surely they have to know we know it and that we would do exactly what you described," Alistair pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sure there are some who do think that, but it is very likely that those are the people who command the people who do that actual guarding, not the guards themselves," Leliana said and she rolled her eyes when she noticed that he was staring at her, confused, "People don't usually pay guards for thinking and, take for example, guarding a gate is boring duty."

"And guards in big cities don't think elves are intelligent enough to come up with a scheme like what we are planning," Zevran said, "They tend to think elves are just filthy beggars who don't know how to tie their bootstraps."

"Okay, so we are trusting to the stupidity of the guards and for the arrogance of the humans," Alistair summed up what he'd understood of the joint explanation.

"Pretty much," Zevran nodded, "We just need to keep our glorious leader in check so she will not go chopping the heads off from the people who insult her," He added and shot a grin towards Lenya.

"And for a moment there I thought this will be easy," Alistair also grinned at Lenya.

"I don't have a habit of cutting heads off from people," Lenya said, "I just help them and remove the parts they no longer need."

"I'm sure they do appreciate how kind you are," Zevran laughed.

"I hope so," Lenya just said, "I put a lot of thought in my efforts to make their lives better."

Alistair smiled as he watched Lenya and Zevran engage in a conversation. It was always rather entertaining to listen to those two. He still did not approve Zevran's sexual innuendos towards Lenya, but he knew well enough that Lenya did not need a knight in a shining armor coming to her defense. She was perfectly capable of being her own knight in a shining armor and Alistair had to admit that she was better at handling Zevran than Alistair could ever hope to be.

He turned his head and saw Leliana watching Lenya and Zevran as well. She seemed to be amused of the display those two were providing, but there was something in Leliana's body language that said 'She's mine' whenever Zevran added flirts in his talks.

While he listened those two he almost managed to forget that they were on their way into the city where all the power was in the hands of a man who had put a price on his and Lenya's heads. Their plan seemed a good one, but he could not shake the uneasiness he was feeling.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that is the end of the Chapter 28 and the Redcliffe storyline. It ended up being at least one chapter longer than I though it would be.**

**Fluff this chapter contained could not be avoided. I had to get Leliana's past told and this seemed like a good time to do it. I also wanted to deepen the romance a bit... :) It does seem to happen really fast, but not sure if I can help it much and of course there is a lot of days when they just travel and nothing out of ordinary happens. Hopefully the time balances itself out. :)  
><strong>

**I also wanted to get Leliana's Alindra story to the story. I've always liked it and it is also something Lenya would enjoy.**

**Alistair and Wynne relationship I will keep pretty much as it is in the game and it does fit those two well.**

**Really don't know how Lenya's relationship with Irving became how it is. That was those things that just happen on their own.**

**Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcomed. **


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Chapter 29 is done. Traveling chapter again... It is rather long walk from Redcliffe to Denerim after all. :)**

**It's been awhile since I posted the last chapter. I have little less time to write at the moment because of real life stuff so updates will probably come at slower pace. I am still writing Lenya's story and I intend to finish it. It will just take a bit longer.**

**I wish to thank all who had stayed with Lenya's story and all those new ones who have found it recently. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.**

**It seems that the End of World was rather sucky one. It failed to happen for one. :)**

**Special thanks to Faelan for the support and encouragement and for Killa1934 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

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><p>The first two days of their travel towards Denerim had been very uneventful and after the events in Redcliffe Alistair was more than happy about it. Only thing that had made his heart jump to his throat was when Wynne went to talk with Lenya about her fainting after the battle.<p>

The news Wynne had told to Lenya, and Lenya later to him and Leliana, had been... not what he had expected. He did not know how to react to the fact that Wynne should be dead and was not because she was... possessed by a spirit or something. His templar training screamed at him that possession was a bad thing and he also felt that Wynne was a hypocrite. She spoke how evil the events in the Redcliffe had been because of a possessed mage and Jowan's blood magic, but somehow it didn't apply to her since the thing possessing her was apparently a good one.

Lenya had not commented on what she thought about it, except to mention that Wynne's case of dying was taking it's time to kick in.

Alistair took a glimpse of Lenya, who was walking beside him. Lenya noticed it and lifted her brow questioningly. He just shrugged.

"I saw what you were doing back there," Leliana said behind them and Alistair turned to ask what she was talking about, but to his surprise Leliana was talking to Sten.

"Oh?" Sten said looking as stoic as ever.

"Don't play innocent with me," Leliana said and there was a hint of amusement in her voice.

"What are you talking about?" Sten asked, confused.

"You. Playing with that kitten," Leliana said smiling widely. Alistair tried to imagine Sten playing with a kitten, but the whole image seemed impossible.

"... There was no kitten," Sten declared stoically, but there was something in his voice that said otherwise.

"Sten, I saw you," Leliana grinned, "You dangling a piece of twine for it."

"I was helping it train," Sten said, but his ears seemed to get flushed.

"You're a big softie!" Leliana said.

Sten looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, but there, "We will never speak of this again," He declared.

"Softie!" Leliana said one last time before she left Sten alone and came to walk beside Lenya.

"Nice one, ma vhenan," Lenya gave radiant smile at the bard.

"Thank you, mon coeur," Leliana smiled.

"What does that mean?" Alistair asked.

"What does what mean?" Lenya turned to look at him.

"Mon coeur," Alistair replied, "And well maybe even ma vhenan. You do call one of your sword that and now you've started to call Leliana that as well," He clarified, "I thought it meant my heart."

"It still does mean my heart," Lenya replied and unsheathed one of her swords, "When I named this sword I thought I'd left my heart behind me," Lenya said, "Buried it alongside with my clan near the Lake Calenhad and I was sure it would stay there until I join with them."

"But it didn't stay buried," Alistair said.

"No," Lenya shook her head and looked Leliana, "It did not stay buried," She said, her voice full of amazement.

Suddenly tears threatened to overtake Alistair and he was going to leave so the women would not see him crying, but before he had time to do that Lenya continued to speak, "So, what does mon coeur mean, ma vhenan?" She asked from Leliana.

Leliana smiled and touched Lenya's cheek gently, "It means, my heart."

If Alistair had ever doubted that the feelings between Lenya and Leliana were genuine, those doubts would have been erased right now. He slowed his steps, letting the women get ahead of him.

"Must feel great to know that only available women in the camp chose each other instead of you," Morrigan said behind him.

Alistair cursed in his mind. He really did not want to talk with Morrigan now.

"Ah, so that is the reason you keep declining my modest suggestions and Oghren's less modest suggestion," Zevran said to Morrigan and thus saved Alistair from answering, "There is a man or woman somewhere out there for our mysterious witch."

"Don't be ridiculous, elf!" Morrigan snorted.

"No need to say more," Zevran lifted his hand up, "Your secret is safe..." Zevran looked around to see who was near, "...with us two. We will swear to take the secret of man or woman who tamed the Witch of the Wild to our graves,"

"I don't," Alistair said, "In fact I think I will post that information at the chanter's board when we arrive to Denerim."

"That would require for you to learn to read and write," Morrigan said, "And I don't think we can stay in Denerim that many years."

"Why do you always go on about how stupid I am?" Alistair asked, "I'm not stupid, am I?" He added and immediately wanted to kick himself in the head. That last question was not planned.

And sure enough, Morrigan lifted her brows, "If you need to ask the question..." She smiled at him.

"Because it hurts my manly feelings, you know," He said, trying to correct the situation with a joke, "All one of them."

"Then I'll be sure to write you an apology once all this is over," Morrigan said, "I'm sure Lenya can read it to you."

"I was educated by the Chantry. I studied history. They don't make stupid templars," He said. Proud of himself that he could say that and sound really arrogant. The effect might have been better if Lenya had not burst into a laugh she tried to stifle without success.

Morrigan looked at Lenya whose shoulders were shaking from the laughter, "Then I must have been mistaken. I'm very impressed," She said and turned to look at him.

"No you're not," Alistair snorted, "You're not even listening to me."

"My, you are smarter that you look after all. Your Chantry must have been very proud," Morrigan said and went to say something to Lenya and after Lenya nodded Morrigan turned into a bird and flew into the sky.

"You ruined my witty comment," Alistair accused Lenya.

"I know and I'm sorry, but you really should warn me if you are going to say things like that," Lenya said, "I'm surprised the world didn't end for that ridiculous statement."

"It's because we humans are so superior that even the world can't stop our stupidity," Alistair said and tried to feign the arrogance he'd seen on some humans when they spoke to elves.

"Not quite there, but a very good impression of the shemlen belief in their own superiority," Lenya said and smiled then she lowered her voice to a whisper, "I wouldn't train it too much. I'm just a simple elf and I might get confused and stab you while you sleep."

"Thanks for the warning," Alistair chuckled.

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><p>Leliana sat near the fire and studied her bow. She would need to buy a new string for it from Denerim. Even though she had kept the bow dry it was getting loose. It was nice enough bow, but you couldn't say it was high quality one.<p>

"I'm not used seeing you here when Lenya is on guard duty," Alistair said and sat beside her.

"I needed to check and maintain my armor and weapons," Leliana replied.

"And you could have not done that after your guard shift?" Alistair asked.

"Light would have not been as good then," Leliana explained, "Why are you so curious about me being here?" She asked then and lifted her brow curiously.

"It's just odd that you and Lenya aren't sharing guard duty," Alistair said and bit his lower lip nervously like he wanted to say something else, but didn't seem to find right words to do so.

"Wait- are you worried that something had happen between me and Lenya?" Leliana asked and saw that her words hit the mark, "You really are," She said incredulously, "Why?" She asked. She and Lenya had not been fighting or even said any even remotely harsh words to each other and still Alistair thought there was something wrong.

"Well, you are here and she's there," Alistair said, "Since the Deep Roads you two have always been on guard together."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we are somehow incapable of doing our guard shifts with others as well," Leliana said, "Even though we enjoy being together we don't have to be so all the time."

Alistair was about to reply when loud yelling and sounds of fighting interrupted him. Sounds were coming from the side were Lenya should be. He changed look with Leliana and then they were running towards the sounds of fighting.

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><p>When Alistair and Leliana arrived at the scene of the battle they found Lenya fighting against two opponents. Abelas was attacking third, but there were more enemies coming to join the battle, including a mage who seemed dazed. Lenya must have used Smite on her.<p>

There were also two dead attackers on Lenya's feet.

Without hesitation Alistair charged into the fight and Leliana started to pick out the enemy archers.

Even with him and Leliana joining it, the battle would have been lost if rest of their companions had not joined the fight pretty soon after him and Leliana.

They rounded up and defeated the attackers one by one until there was only the mage and apparently the leader of the group left.

The leader dropped his weapon on the ground and motioned the mage to do the same.

Lenya didn't care about the gesture of surrender and she was about to behead the man when Leliana stopped her, "Stop. Don't kill him!"

"What? Why not?" Lenya asked incredulously and turned to look at Leliana.

"He is no common bandit. None of them were. Their weapons and armor are of fine make, and they are well-trained," Leliana replied and Lenya's expression changed, but only to say 'So?', "You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Who are you?"

The bandit leader coughs, "Someone who regrets taking you on. Was told it would be easy job. Kill the little red-haired girl, deal with the others as we pleased."

"Red-haired girl? Me?" Lenya asked and she looked confused. Alistair wondered it as well. This far the assassins had always come after both of them.

"No," The leader shook his head, "Her," He pointed at Leliana who paled.

"Kill the... you came to kill me?" Leliana asked and now she looked confused. Lenya on the other hand was not confused anymore. She was furious.

"No one threatens my bard and lives!" Lenya growled and lifted her right hand sword.

"Wait, just a second!" Leliana said and Lenya stopped. Alistair was sure that she was the only one who even could stop Lenya, "Who sent you? Why am I wanted dead?" Leliana asked from the assassin leader.

"It don't pay to ask why someone wants someone else dead. I just need to know what to do, and where to get my money," The leader said and coughed, "Ha, money! I'll be lucky to get away with my life, it seems;" He continued and gasped for air, "Maybe we could work something out? You like the idea," He said and looked at Leliana hopefully. Alistair thought that if he wanted to get out of this alive it was not Leliana who he needed to convince.

"Speak quickly," Leliana just said.

"I've no real quarrel with you. Wasn't me that wanted you dead, but I know how you can find the one who does," The assassin leader said and again looked at Leliana.

"Don't just stop there. Talk!" Lenya said and the leader turned to look at her now. His face paled immediately. Lenya's expression had to be one of murderous fury, held in check only by Leliana's plea not to kill the man yet.

"I have some directions written down on how to get to the house. It's in Denerim. Here..." The leader held a piece of paper in his hand and offered it to Lenya, "...It's the best I can do."

Leliana took the paper and quickly read it, "Thank you. Now leave. I never want to see you again," Leliana said.

"You want to let them go?" Lenya asked incredulously and Leliana nodded, "I think we should just kill them, just to be safe," Lenya then added.

"But she said I could..." The assassin leader paled.

Alistair held his breath and waited to see what Lenya would do. Even as recently as month ago he would have not bet anything on the chance that Lenya would spare the man, but now... He was not so sure. He also remembered Loghain's men Lenya had spared in Lothering, just because Leliana had asked.

"Oh, fine," Lenya said and sheathed her sword, "Run along then."

"Don't worry. I'll not trouble you no more," The assassin leader said and started to limp away. The mage followed him.

"It's Marjolaine... It has to be," Leliana said.

"Why now," Lenya asked and leaned on the tree. Only then Alistair noticed that she had an broken arrow shaft sticking out of her side. How in the Makers name she was even standing anymore? He started to open his mouth, but one glare from Lenya told him to shut up.

"Maybe someone saw me... maybe she's finally found me and wants to finish what she started," Leliana replied. Obviously she was so occupied with her own thoughts that she did not even notice that Lenya was wounded.

"Don't worry, ma vhenan," Lenya said and straightened, "I won't let anyone harm you."

"She needs to answer for what she's done to me. When we are in Denerim, I would like to seek her out," Leliana said and Lenya nodded, "Thank you," Leliana said and Lenya smiled at her.

"Okay, the excitement is over," Lenya said, "Return to the camp," She ordered and everyone started to move back.

Alistair waited until everyone was away before he went to Lenya, "You need healing, you stupid stubborn woman," He said when Lenya collapsed against him.

"I know," Lenya said, "But... but you can't tell Leliana about this. She will blame herself if she finds out," She said weakly.

Alistair looked around and saw Abelas standing near him, his whole being told Alistair that he was worried about his mistress, "Go get Wynne, but do it quietly," Alistair said to the mabari who left in a flash.

While he was waiting, Alistair studied the arrow that was sticking out of Lenya. It had pierced the armor cleanly. It had to be very well made arrow and the bow was probably enchanted as well to be able to penetrate the Silverite armor Lenya wore.

"We need to take your armor off," Alistair said and Lenya nodded, "It will hurt like hell."

"Wonderful," Lenya chuckled weakly and she sat up so it was easier to remove the armor.

They were almost done when Abelas returned with Wynne.

Without a word Wynne kneeled beside Lenya and studied the arrow, "I need to pull it out and it will hurt," Wynne said.

"I know," Lenya said and closed her eyes.

"Alistair, get her a stick she can bite," Wynne ordered and Alistair got up. Luckily they were in the woods so finding a stick was not a hard task.

When he returned with the stick and placed it between Lenya's teeth, Wynne was already preparing to pull the arrow out, "Hold her down," Wynne then ordered him.

As soon as he had a good position and was holding Lenya down Wynne pulled the arrow out without a warning. The stick between Lenya's teeth snapped in half and she let out a muffled scream. Then she passed out.

"You can stop pressing her down now," Wynne said and she was already working her magic to heal the wound.

"Will she be alright?" Alistair asked.

"She will recover fully," Wynne replied, "She should take it easy for a few days as she lost a lot of blood, but other than that she will be alright."

"Good," Alistair said, relieved.

"Did she tell you why she wanted to hide that she was wounded?" Wynne asked.

"She did not want Leliana to see that she got wounded," Alistair replied.

"I figured as much," Wynne said and shook her head, "Foolish woman," She got up and left without another word.

"She thinks I did it because I love Leliana," Lenya said when Wynne was gone, "She still doesn't understand me at all."

"Even I think you did this because you love her, Lenya," Alistair said.

"Then you don't know me either," Lenya chuckled, "Do I want to spare Leliana feeling unnecessary guilt? Yes, but in truth I would have done that for any of you if I would think that you would be better off not knowing," She said more seriously.

"I seem to remember that you said you are not a good liar, but I don't see you having any problems of lying to the woman you love," Alistair said.

"I said I'm not usually very good at lying and that times when I can lie convincingly are rare," Lenya said.

"It's just odd that you choose this time to be able to lie," Alistair said, "And to Leliana no less."

"Can you think a better time?" Lenya asked, "If she finds out I was wounded she will be blaming herself and might even try to leave us to keep us safe."

Alistair did not know what to say to that. He understood why Lenya had done what she did, but it felt weird that Lenya could lie so easily to the woman she obviously loved.

"To protect her," Lenya said, startling him. He lifted his head and met Lenya's eyes. They were glowing again. He really would like to know why they seemed to glow even if there were no darkspawn near, but at the moment he wanted to know if Lenya could read his mind somehow. That would be creepy, "You are easy to read, Alistair," Lenya just said. That was just great – Alistair thought.

"Protect her from what?" Alistair wanted to know, "From the truth?"

"From herself," Lenya replied, "What do you think would happen if Leliana leaves us and goes to confront her old master alone?"

"She would..." Alistair started and then sighed, "She would die," Chances that Leliana's old master was alone were nonexistent.

"Sometimes, Alistair, we need to be protected from ourselves," Lenya smiled, "Help me stand," She asked him.

"You should rest," Alistair said.

"I will, but I can hardly rest here now can I?" Lenya laughed, "You need to help me get the armor back on and then I'll return to the camp and go to sleep."

"You should eat something first," Alistair said as he helped Lenya get up.

"Yes, mother," Lenya rolled her eyes, "Want to tell me anything else that's obvious?" She asked with mock eagerness.

"Never mind, you stubborn woman," Alistair muttered and helped Lenya get her armor back on, "If you are not resting when I come back from the guard shift I'll tell Leliana that you got wounded."

"Evil woman!" Lenya said and grinned at him.

"Hey! I'm not a woman!"

"True," Lenya smiled, "You lack the good parts," She added and started to walk slowly towards the camp, leaving only amused laughter behind her.

"She truly is an evil woman," Alistair said aloud and smiled. Then she looked around and sighed. Lenya had left him in the middle of the dead people, "Really spooky place to stand guard."

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><p>Leliana watched as Lenya walked into the camp. She was still covered in blood and she seemed to be alright. Leliana had not even noticed that Lenya had not returned into the camp with the rest of them until now as she was returning.<p>

There was something off in how Lenya moved, but Leliana could not tell what it was. If something had happen to Lenya because of her she would never forgive herself.

Fact that it had very likely been Marjolaine who had sent the assassins after her, filled Leliana with worry that because of her past, her love and new friends were in danger. It had been a miracle and the combat prowess of Lenya and everyone around her that had prevented deaths in their group, but how many times their luck would hold?

Leliana knew that if it was Marjolaine who was after her she would not stop sending more assassins after her until Leliana was dead. Her mere presence put Lenya and everyone around her in danger.

She had even thought about leaving and going to confront Marjolaine alone, but that plan would not work. Lenya would just use Abelas to track her. Plus Lenya would probably misunderstand her motives. Lenya's trust in humans was delicate thing and if Leliana would just leave now, after Lenya had opened her heart to Leliana... No, she would not do that to Lenya.

Leliana did think that she was selfish for not leaving, but Lenya made her feel safe and she did not want to lose that.

Lenya noticed or sensed Leliana's eyes on her and she turned to look at Leliana and when their eyes met Lenya gave her a brilliant smile.

"Are you...?" Leliana started, but Lenya stopped her.

"I'm alright, but let me get something to wear that is not covered in blood," Lenya said and walked to her tent and went inside.

"Alright," Leliana said, but kept trying to see if everything really was alright. She even kept staring at Lenya's tent after she went inside.

After a time that felt like an eternity Lenya came out of the tent. She was wearing her usual camp clothes. It was really weird how Lenya could make those simple clothes seem like the sexiest clothes ever made. At least in Leliana's eyes they did.

"You look almost edible, mon coeur," Leliana said when Lenya sat next to her.

"Really?" Lenya asked and smiled coyly.

"Absolutely," Leliana nodded, but changed more serious, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Lenya replied, "I think I sprained a muscle and my side is bit tender, but that's it."

"You sure you didn't get hit!?" Leliana yelped, "Are you alright?" She asked again. She knew she was repeating things and acting all panicked, but she couldn't help herself. It was her fault that they have been attacked.

"Well, yes," Lenya replied, "That's why I wear the armor after all," She explained.

"This is all my fault," Leliana said miserably.

"How do you figure that?" Lenya asked curiously.

"If I would have not been here you would have not been attacked and you would have not been nearly beaten to death by some thug sent by my former master," Leliana said.

"And if me and Alistair were not with you, you would not get attacked by darkspawn, Loghain's men and who knows what else," Lenya said, "And I'm damn sure you would not be in constant threat of getting tainted."

"That's not the same thing," Leliana protested.

"Oh?" Lenya asked, "Would you explain me how it is not the same thing," She then added and tilted her head.

"Because... we knew about those threats when we joined with you," Leliana said, "You did not know that I was being hunted."

Lenya shook her head and smiled at Leliana, "But I did know you were hunted and I could have told you to leave any time I wanted."

"You knew I was hunted in Orlais many years ago, but not that I was hunted now," Leliana said.

"Leliana," Lenya sighed, "Yes, I didn't know that you were being hunted right now. I also don't know if I'm hunted right now. I am pretty sure that I am hunted by Loghain's men and I know that the darkspawn hunt me whenever they sense that I'm close, but just like you didn't know, I don't know if someone from my past is also hunting me. I have killed many shems in my past and any of their relatives, friends or allies could be hunting me and they could attack as anytime. Alistair might have made some enemies that are hunting him and they could attack us."

"Okay, okay," Leliana sighed, it was hard to argue with Lenya when she was right, "I agree that it is the same thing, but I don't think we need to be afraid of any enemies Alistair might have made before Ostagar. He's all too nice."

"I think you are right," Lenya smiled, "He really does not have what it takes to piss people off."

"He's trying hard though," Leliana smiled and they both burst into a laughter.

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><p>Later that night when Leliana was standing on guard and had time to think, Lenya's logic did not prevent Leliana finding ways to blame herself. It still was pure luck that Lenya had only sprained a muscle instead of getting hit by a weapon that could cause serious injuries. What if she'd been stabbed with a knife or sword or shot by an arrow. Those could find their way through Lenya's armor and hurt her badly.<p>

"I should just leave," She muttered aloud.

"I wouldn't recommend that," Zevran said. Leliana had forgotten that she was not alone. Usually Zevran was not that silent, "Lenya would just make us move fast enough and catch up with you and then we would be in this same situation, but we would be more tired."

"Shouldn't you be trying to get in bed with me instead of telling me things I already know?" Leliana asked nastily.

"Wouldn't be fair to make a move against you when you are not at your best, my dear Leliana and imagine if I succeeded because of that? Our gorgeous leader would feed my own boots to me while my legs are still in them and then she would probably get creative and I don't think she would spare you either. So, in good conscious, I can't put you in danger like that by flirting with you."

Leliana studied the assassin. She noticed that Zevran did not care about if he himself would get killed by Lenya, but for some reason he really did not want Leliana to get Lenya's anger directed at her.

"You assume a great deal, Zevran," Leliana said, "No matter how distracted I am I would not sleep with you even if you were my type which you are not. There is no way I would do something like that to Lenya."

"Isn't that what bards do?" Zevran asked and smirked, "Seduce, use and move to the next target," He added, "That is the way bards operate, no?"

"Some, but I'm not like that," Leliana gritted her teeth and moved closer to Zevran. She did not even notice that her hand had curled on the hilt of her dagger. How did this assassin dare to suggest that she was just using Lenya.

"You got us to defend you against the assassin sent by your former bard master. You can now leave," Zevran continued, "Move to the next target to keep you safe from your bard master."

"How dare you!?" Leliana growled and pushed the elf against the tree, "I would never do that to Lenya, I love her!" She said through gritted teeth, "If I leave it's to protect her from my past, not to move on to the next target as you so nicely put."

Zevran didn't seem to be worried about his safety at all or even tried to struggle. In fact the infuriating elf smiled at her, "Glad to hear it, Leliana," Zevran said, "I would have hated to kill you for hurting my friend," He continued and his expression became serious.

That made Leliana take a step backwards. If someone had said to her this morning that she was threatened by Zevran because he was worried that Leliana might hurt Lenya, she would have thought the speaker was crazy.

"Your friend?" Leliana asked and Zevran nodded, "I thought that Crows don't have friends."

"They don't," Zevran admitted, "It is not good to show attachment to anyone that can be used against you," He smiled, "Aren't the bards supposed to have their loyalties fluid?"

"So they say," Leliana said and let out a weak laugh.

"We are rather poor examples of our trades, are we not, my beautiful bard?" Zevran said and smiled.

"I guess we are and you know whose fault that is?" Leliana said and they both looked at the direction where the camp was and more importantly where Lenya was.

"She is a rather remarkable woman," Zevran nodded and then his expression changed again, "So, how is she in bed?" He asked and grinned.

Leliana was about to tell Zevran it was not his business, but instead of that she decided to have fun with Zevran's expense, "You have no idea!" She grinned and tapped Zevran's chest with her dagger. She was not sure when she'd taken the dagger from its sheath.

"What?" Zevran said, "After that you are not going to tell me?"

"That's exactly what I am going to do," Leliana said.

"I see," Zevran said, "You are becoming as evil as our gorgeous leader. I applaud you."

"You're impossible," Leliana shook her head.

"Quite contrary, my dear, I am often told how easy I am," Zevran said.

"That, I don't doubt," Leliana smiled, "Thank you," She then added almost too quietly for Zevran to hear.

"Just looking out for my gorgeous women," Zevran grinned and Leliana shook her head and involuntary smile spread to her lips.

"You know she just might make a woman out of you if she hears that you refer her as your woman," Leliana pointed out.

"I know," Zevran grinned again, "Exciting isn't it."

"Impossible," Leliana muttered and returned to her guard post.

* * *

><p>Zevran watched as Leliana returned to her guard post. Not quite sure how his life had come to this point. It was really unbelievable how things were.<p>

Lenya had gone from being a target to a something Zevran had never believed he would find. A friend. Sure he'd had a lot of 'friends' in the Crows, but every one of those would stab him if it would gain them something.

Lenya might kill him, but only if he gave her reason to, not because she might get personal gain from it. To be able to trust someone like that was completely new to Zevran.

He was not even sure what had made him start talking with Leliana, but when he had heard her mutter about leaving he knew he had to do something. He had suspected that Leliana might be just using Lenya, but obviously he had misread the situation. He'd seen the truth in Leliana's eyes. The lovely bard was serious about their gorgeous leader.

'How did Lenya do it?' - He wondered. The way Lenya made all those around her… 'hers' was like magic. Even he had fallen for her charms, a feat he had thought impossible, but here he was, calling her a friend and ready to kill for her. All it had taken was that Lenya had recently started to call him 'Zev'. He had said to her that when they first met. 'My name is Zevran. Zev to my friends'.

Because of that he had followed the assassin leader and his mage companion and killed them. Just to make sure that they would not get back to warn their client, this Marjolaine. He knew that he'd gone behind Lenya's back in that, but he also didn't think that Lenya would disapprove if she ever found out about it.

He shook his head in disbelief. He'd killed those two, not because they were his target, but because he wanted to protect his friend. It had felt weird, but also good.

He returned his attention to the guarding the camp, but still wondered how weird turns his life had taken.

* * *

><p>Alistair kept close eye on Lenya when they continued their journey towards Denerim. He kept doing that for two days and only stopped because Lenya threatened to kick the Creators out of him if he did not stop fussing.<p>

While keeping an eye on Lenya he also noticed that Leliana was less talkative than usual. Even though she did not know that Lenya had been wounded she obviously blamed herself. She tried hard to keep that hidden from Lenya though and for some reason from Zevran. When either of those came near she seemed to liven up and pretend that everything was alright.

Alistair did notice that Leliana did not fool Lenya. More than once he found Lenya looking at Leliana with worried expression.

He also noticed that Wynne kept giving those disapproving glares at the pair again.

"It's not what you think," Alistair said finally.

"What isn't dear?" Wynne lifted her brow.

"Whatever you think Lenya is doing wrong," Alistair replied, "It's not what you think it is."

"What I think is that those two have put their heads into the clouds and brought a potential tragedy to themselves," Wynne said, "Lenya's stupidity after she got wounded was clear sign of that."

"No," Alistair said, "It wasn't."

"And what makes you think you know more about these things than this old woman?" Wynne asked.

"I talked with Lenya," Alistair said, "Reason she did not want Leliana to know that she had been wounded was not why you think it was and I admit why I thought it was," He turned to look at Lenya who walked a long way ahead them, "She admitted that she did not want to cause Leliana to blame herself of the wound she got, but she also said that she would have done the same if any of us would be in Leliana's position and if her not letting us know would prevent us from doing something stupid like heading off and try to kill dangerous people on our own," Alistair explained, "Reason why she would do that is..."

"Is to protect us," Wynne finished the sentence, "Why did I not understand that before? Why did I need a young man to tell me something so obvious?" Wynne said and then she sighed.

"I don't..." Alistair started, but didn't know what to say.

"Thank you, Alistair," Wynne said, "For letting this old woman see things more clearly."

"What... I mean... you are welcome... I guess," Alistair said and then he sighed, "Are all women cryptic like that or is that reserved only to those who travel with me?"

"I'm afraid it's all the women, Alistair," Wynne smiled.

"Figures," Alistair sighed and looked around. Then his eyes got wide suddenly, "I know these lands," He said and then raised his voice, "Lenya, we are getting close to Denerim."

Lenya stopped and turned to wait them, "We better make camp somewhere near here," Lenya said when they caught up with her, "We can't take Shale with us there and I have been thinking that it might be good to leave some of us here anyway,"

"It wants me to stay out of the city?" Shale asked.

"I'm afraid that you might draw too much attention to us," Lenya said, "We are already quite recognizable group."

"I understand," Shale said and then looked at the sky. There was birds flying there, "Wouldn't there be a lot of those feathered fiend's in the city that large?"

"You could bet your stones of that," Zevran said, "Port city like that is filled with seagulls and pigeons."

"Ugh! Sounds thoroughly hideous place," Shale said, "I will gladly stay here and plan how better get rid of those fiends for good."

"Nice to see she has a hobby," Alistair said and shiver went through him. He really did not want to think what kind of horrible fate Shale could come up with for the birds.

"Bodahn?" Lenya said to the merchant dwarf when his carts rolled to the stop near them.

"Yes Warden?" Bodahn turned to look at Lenya.

"I need the armor surcoat now, the one we talked about few days ago," Lenya said.

"The one without the coat of arms?" Bodahn asked.

"That's the one," Lenya nodded, "I don't think it would be a good idea to walk into the seat of Loghain's power wearing Grey Warden coat of arms and it would kind of negate the point of covering the same coat of arms on my armor."

"Quite true, mistress and the clear one, it is ready," Bodahn said, "I can't take money from it though as I needed your friend help to resize it," He added and nodded towards Wynne.

"It was nothing," Wynne said, "I enjoy doing some needle work."

"Regardless of that I can't take coins from you," Bodahn said.

"As you wish," Lenya bowed, "I think we should get one for you as well," She then said and turned to talk to Alistair.

"Why?" Alistair asked, "I don't have Grey Warden symbol on my armor."

"No, but it might look suspicious if Lenya has a surcoat and you don't," Zevran said, "So better that you both have it."

"What about Sten?" Alistair wanted to know.

"He's a Qunari and people won't expect him to act like normal people," Zevran replied and grinned at Sten who didn't even deign to grunt at him, "And anyway, if I read our gorgeous leader right he is the other one we are leaving behind."

"You read my gorgeousness correctly, Zev," Lenya smiled at the assassin, "I would also leave Morrigan behind, but she wants to see the city," She added then, "No idea why she wants that though, it looks filthy," She continued and grimaced.

"It's not so bad, mon coeur," Leliana assured, "Cities can be fun."

"Let me know when that happens, ma vhenan," Lenya shrugged, obviously not expecting fun to happen while they were in the city.

"I'll do that," Leliana chuckled, "Should we go then?" She asked eagerly.

Lenya turned to look at Leliana and then she grinned, "I know why you are so eager to get inside," She proclaimed, "You see yourself in a bath!"

"Maybe..." Leliana smiled and then gave Lenya a look that made Lenya's eyes go wide and Alistair felt his cheek start to warm and the look was not even directed at him. He turned his eyes away from Leliana. How Lenya managed not to melt from that look was beyond Alistair's comprehension.

"How you manage to be so adorable, my chaste templar friend, is beyond me," Zevran said behind him, "To be able to blush when other people give suggesting looks the each other is rather remarkable talent."

"Shut up," Alistair mumbled.

"Teasing Alistair again, Zev?" Lenya asked.

"Just a little bit," Zevran replied, "I think we should take him into the Pearl while we are here."

"What's that?" Lenya asked curiously.

"Nice little establishment where you may find young ladies or gentlemen," Zevran replied innocently.

Lenya stared at Zevran like she didn't quite believe him, but she didn't say anything, "We better move now. Faster we get in there and find this Genetivi, faster we can get out of there," She said reluctantly.

"You act like we are going to enter the Deep Roads instead of a city," Alistair said.

"Not sure which is worse yet," Lenya said without a hint of sarcasm. She was dead serious. Only then Alistair understood that this was really the first time Lenya had ever stepped inside a human city. The Dalish probably told terrible tales about the human cities and it probably did not help at all that this was also the capital city and full of nobles who saw Lenya as no more than a servant.

He was about to put his hand on Lenya's shoulder to comfort her, but before he could do that Leliana wrapped her arm around Lenya, "I will be there, mon coeur," She said and pressed a kiss on Lenya's cheek.

"Let's go," Lenya said again and gave Leliana a grateful smile.

"We never did have any chance there did we?" Zevran asked as they watched the two women.

"Wrong parts," Alistair chuckled, "You're still not forgiven you for not telling me it sooner," He added as they followed Lenya and Leliana.

"What should I have done then?" Zevran laughed, "Hit you in the head with a sign that said Lenya likes breasts?" He asked and Alistair felt that damnable blush rising again, "With your dazzling virtue I'm not sure even that would have been enough though, now that I think of it, I think Lenya already did that," Zevran continued, "Perhaps I should have added to the sign that she likes to lick..."

"Not listening! La la laa!" Alistair exclaimed in shock and stuffed his fingers into his ears.

Zevran's amused laugh was the only thing he heard on their way to gates of Denerim.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is Chapter 29. When I started to write this chapter I realized that a lot of things needed to happen in this chapter. Marjolaine's mercenaries attacking the party and all that entails. Arrival to Denerim and preparations for entering the city.**

**Zevran really surprised me while I was writing this. First his decision to kill the surviving assassins and then his talk with Leliana. His talk with Alistair did not surprise me at all. :)**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: And the chapter 30 is here and the group is arriving to Denerim.**

**Like I said at notes of the previous chapter, I have less time to write and that is still holding true. I have no idea when this changes so the updates will still be coming slower.**

**I wish you thank everyone who is reading the story and extra thanks to those who review, alert or faves the story. Thank you.**

**Special thanks to go to Faelan for putting up with me when I bug her to read the unfinished chapters. (huggles to you my friend)**

**Huge thanks for Xe20 for beta reading.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p>Lenya started to hold her breath when they began to approach the city gate. Everything depended on Alistair. Leliana and Zevran had both given him a lot of advices on how to act, but did he understand everything was another matter entirely.<p>

"It will work," Leliana whispered to her.

"I hope so," Lenya sighed and let out the breath she'd been holding, "I know I've pushed him to learn how to lead, but now everything depends on him to pull it off."

"It will work," Leliana said again, "You just focus on not getting angry and chopping the heads off from those who offend you."

"Right... I'm the lowly and insignificant elf..." Lenya muttered and looked at the shems guarding the gate, "While those droppings of Fen'Harel there, think they are pinnacle of life."

"Just don't chop their heads off," Leliana said and then added, "And there is nothing lowly or insignificant in you, ma vhenan."

Hearing Leliana call her, my heart, in her own language... Lenya wanted to turn around and kiss the bard silly and then perhaps ravish her, but since there hardly was time to do that now and the place was far from good she gave Leliana a brilliant smile.

Then they were at the gate and Lenya held her breath again, but no one questioned them or tried to stop them. They did get more than few looks, but that was it as they walked inside.

"Hey, you there, elf!" A shout came from behind them when they were almost out of the guard's sight.

"Easy now," Leliana said when Lenya turned around. She noticed that Zevran did so as well.

"Yes, my good man?" Zevran asked from the guard that was approaching them.

"Not you, the wench!" The guard said and approached Lenya.

"Is there some kind of problem?" Alistair asked and stepped in front of the man, blocking the guard's path to Lenya.

"She has some serious weaponry on her," The guard replied, "Armed elves are dangerous."

"Of course she is armed you idiot," Alistair snorted, "She's my sister's bodyguard," He continued and nodded towards Leliana, "You think she can fend off groping men with her bare hands?"

"I... I'm sorry... "The guard stammered, "But... but your sister does not look that defenseless, my lord."

"Of course she isn't, she's as good fighter as any man I know, but that does not mean she can go and kill every thug herself. Mother would get a fit if she goes doing that again," Alistair said and let out a laugh. He seemed to enjoy himself. Lenya just hoped he would not get carried away with his story.

"Again..." The guard said and gave Leliana a scared look. Leliana gave him a happy little smile, "Okay, you can go in, but you are responsible for the behavior of your servants my lord,"

"I know that," Alistair snorted again, "He's like mother," He then said to Leliana and pointed at the guard.

"Not quite, brother," Leliana said, "We should go; I so want to see the market!" She then exclaimed.

"Of course you do," Alistair rolled his eyes and shook his head a little to the guard who gave him a knowing smile that said, 'women', "Let's go to the markets, sister."

"That was quite nicely done, Alistair," Leliana said to Alistair when the guard was out of ear-shot, "Try not to get carried away with the story you are telling though, keep it simple."

"Thank you," Alistair said, "I'll try to keep that in mind," He promised.

"See that you do, brother," Leliana said, "Or I'll tell mother you were a bad boy," She patted Alistair's cheek and then returned to walk beside Lenya.

Soon after that they arrived into the large clearing. The sounds and the smells immediately overwhelmed Lenya's senses and she stopped so suddenly that someone walked into her. She did not turn to look who, "Creators!" She exclaimed. From the explanations of Leliana, Zevran and Alistair she had formed an image in her head of what the city would be like, but this was many times worse.

The air smelled like a chamber pot you had forgot to empty recently and the sounds... it was like darkspawn noise, but only worse.

"I think we need to leave the shopping for another time," Alistair said and came to stand beside Lenya. Lenya only distantly noticed it.

"I agree," Lenya heard Leliana say, "We need to get her inside, so let's find an inn and rent some rooms," She continued and then Lenya felt herself being guided.

"The inn is on the other side of the markets," Lenya heard Zevran say.

Then they stepped inside a building and some of the noises subsided, but it was replaced with different kind of noise; noise that could only mean that they were inside a tavern.

The smell was also less obtrusive so Lenya took a deep breath and calmed herself, "You... you can stop pulling me," She said to Leliana who tried to pull her further in the inn.

"I'll go get us rooms," Alistair said and left them.

"I want my own," Lenya heard Morrigan say and she heard Alistair reply something to that, but she did not hear what he said.

"Are you alright?" Leliana asked after Alistair and Morrigan left. Leliana's voice was full of worry.

"I'm... alright," Lenya replied. That was a lie... a big one. The whole city just seemed... so chaotic and wrong.

"Liar," Leliana said and then looked up, "Come, Alistair got us rooms."

She did not object when Leliana guided her to their rooms.

"I hope you don't mind sharing the room with me and Wynne," Leliana said.

Lenya lifted her eyes to Leliana's, "With you... I don't mind," She said, "With Wynne..."

"Alistair tried to get four rooms, but getting even three was difficult and I'm sure you don't want to put Morrigan and Wynne into the same room," Leliana said.

"That would be a disaster," Lenya said and then she smiled, "Even bigger one than putting me in the same room with her."

"If you start to feel bad about it, just think how nice it's for Alistair. He is sharing room with Zevran and Oghren," Leliana smiled mischievously.

Lenya stared at Leliana and then she started to giggle, "You are right, that does help," She managed to say between giggles.

Suddenly Leliana was in front of her, "Have I told you how much I love that?" She whispered, their lips almost touching.

"You love that Alistair shares his room with Zevran and Oghren?" Lenya asked and tried to stop her giggling.

"That is enjoyable, but that is not what I meant," Leliana said and Lenya could feel her breath on her lips and she could have happily drown on those bright blue eyes, "But to hear your giggle... that I love," Leliana continued and pressed her lips against Lenya's.

"You two can't seem to keep your hands away from each other," Wynne's voice brought them back to the present, "Or should I say you two can't keep your lips away from each other?" She continued and before either of them could respond she added, "Alistair wants to know if you are well enough to go out and start looking for Genetivi."

"I'm well enough, but not sure I want to go outside to that... cesspit you shems call a city," Lenya replied and she could feel herself pale from the thought of going out again. She knew it was not rational behavior, but like it had been with the Deep Roads and her fear there so it was here, "How anyone can live here is beyond me."

"You get used to it," Leliana replied.

"Why would anyone want to get used to this?" Lenya grimaced.

"I think we need to go shopping and I'll show you," Leliana suggested.

"Shoes?" Lenya asked smiling.

"Shoes!" Leliana said enthusiastically, "We definitely need to get you new shoes!"

"When you say shoes, you mean impractical things you can't even walk properly, don't you?" Lenya asked.

"Maybe..." Leliana said.

"I think I'll hold onto my plate boots and those soft leather boots I wear in the camp, but thank you," Lenya said.

"You're impossible!" Leliana exclaimed, "How can anyone turn down new shoes?"

"If the shoes in question try to murder my feet... quite easily," Lenya said and then she grinned, "What else can you expect from savage forest beast?" She asked and Leliana rolled her eyes before giving her a light kiss, "Let's go see others so we can decide how to continue."

"Alistair and the others are waiting in the table," Wynne said.

"Wait... when did he manage to get us a table as well?" Lenya asked suddenly, "We just came here and..."

"You two have been in here over half an hour, my dear," Wynne said and then she gave them and mischievous grin that was really out of character for the old mage, "And if I have to guess what you've been doing... kissing would be my guess," She added and her grin widened. Lenya blinked and took another look on Wynne because there was none of the disapproving signs showing on Wynne this time. Then it registered to her what Wynne was saying and she felt blush rising.

"I guess we lost track of time," Leliana said and her face was similarly flushed.

"I guess you did," Wynne said and turned to leave, but not before Lenya saw the amusement playing on her eyes.

"Half an hour..." Lenya whispered to Leliana and shook her head in disbelief.

"Lost in a kiss..." Leliana smiled and then they both giggled like little girls. They were still giggling when they stepped out of the room.

* * *

><p>Lenya's second time at the Denerim market was no less horrible than her first time. Smell and noise were still there, but now that she knew what to expect she could tune at least some of it out.<p>

She made herself walk around the market and really look at things and sense the place. It was not a pleasant experience.

"You still look like you are walking in the Deep Roads," Alistair said when they had completed their circle around the market.

"I actually would prefer the Deep Roads," Lenya said, "At least there I know that pretty much everything tries to kill me. Here... it's not so easy... I expect getting attacked and when I'm not it frustrates and puts me on edge."

"Have anyone ever said that you are very odd," Alistair said.

"Many times," Lenya smiled and then her eyes focused on a poster on the stone wall, "Friends of the Grey Warden's assemble!" She read the headline, "Someone wants to get killed," She muttered when she'd read the whole text.

"What do you mean?" Alistair asked curiously.

"Well, look at it," Lenya suggested and Alistair walked closer and began to read.

"That's bad," Alistair said, "Whoever put that there is begging for trouble."

"Or it is a trap since no one has removed the poster," Leliana said, "I doubt that Loghain would tolerate such open challenge here in his city."

"I think we should check it out anyway," Alistair said, "I'd hate it if I later found out that it was some idiot who just wanted to support us and that Loghain's men killed him."

Lenya thought about it for a moment and then nodded, "I agree, I also don't want to leave behind anyone who lures those who support us to their deaths," She said and then read the poster again, "And it seems we can introduce Pearl to Alistair after all."

"They're meeting in the Pearl?" Zevran asked and when Lenya nodded he grinned, "Then we definitely need to go see what it's all about."

"Hmm..." Alistair said and studied Zevran, "Suddenly I am not so eager to go there."

"Too late for that now," Lenya smiled, "I'm also interested to see what it is since Zev wants to get you there so badly."

"What's that other note on the wall?" Wynne asked, "The one that is sticking out under the poster."

"It seems to be some kind of warning from the city guard," Leliana said, "About thieves and such."

"You think they might pay us if we help them out?" Lenya asked.

"They might, but I'm not sure it is a good idea for us to go talk to the guards," Leliana said.

Lenya closed her eyes and sighed. The feeling was there, telling her that someone would get hurt if she did not do this, "We need to do this," She said and her tone told the others not to argue with her.

"It says here that the warning was posted by Sergeant Kylon," Leliana said.

"That doesn't help us much if there isn't a picture of him there," Lenya muttered.

"Don't you worry," Leliana said and then she started to walk towards a couple of talking shems. Lenya followed her as she should be her bodyguard and because she did not trust things in this city.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Leliana said to the pair, "Could you tell me where I can find Sergeant Kylon?"

"Is the knife-ear causing trouble to you miss?" One of the men asked and tried to give Lenya a threatening stare, but he turned less enthusiastic after Lenya answered it with a stare of her own.

"Knife-ear?" Leliana asked looking confused, "What? You mean Lenya?" She then exclaimed, like she'd just figured it out, "Oh no, she's not trouble. She's my bodyguard. Da didn't want me to come to the city without one because of all the troubles,"

"But a knife-ear?" One of the men asked, "What good is one of those if you get attacked, miss?"

"Oh, Lenya has been trained from birth to be my guardian," Leliana explained enthusiastically, "She can kill five men in a heartbeat," She smiled proudly.

"Seven," Lenya corrected, "We should get the information you need, my lady, and be on our way."

"Do you always let your servants talk to you like that?" The other man asked.

"Only Lenya," Leliana smiled, "Ma gave her right to do so, but I don't mind it... much," She lowered her eyes to the ground, "Please tell me where I can find Sergeant Kylon."

The men seemed like they wanted to continue talking, but Lenya discouraged that by staring at them both. So they gave directions and then moved away from them. Lenya still heard them muttering about how they could beat Lenya if they wanted, but just chose not to.

"They have no idea how lucky they are that I need to restrain myself here so I don't draw attention to us," Lenya muttered to Leliana, "When we get out of this damn city I want to find some darkspawn, bandits or anything and beat the Creators out of them. Bloody servant my..."

Lenya was still muttering to herself when they got back to Alistair.

"What's gotten under your skin?" Alistair asked.

"Those two called her knife-ear and a servant," Leliana replied.

Alistair gave Lenya surprised look, "And you let them live?"

"Not by choice," Lenya replied and she turned to look at the two shems, "They are damn lucky that we can't draw attention to ourselves..." She continued and then added in her own language, "Cursed droppings of Dread Wolf!"

"You know, I really start to worry when you are cursing in elvish," Alistair said, "We better go find this Sergeant Kylon and get you somewhere where you can't see those idiots," He continued and then turned to look at Leliana, "If you found out who and where he is that is?" He added and Leliana nodded and pointed at the direction they needed to go. Alistair nodded and started to walk.

"How do you know I didn't just give them a blessing?" Lenya asked from Alistair.

"I may not know much about elvish, but I do know that you don't wish anything good on people when you say Fen'Harel," Alistair said, "And even I wouldn't give those two blessings so for you to give them one would mean that the world had ended when I was not looking."

Lenya burst into laughter, "You have me there," She chuckled.

* * *

><p>They still had to ask direction again before they finally found Sergeant Kylon. It pretty much confirmed that those first two had been idiots. Not that Lenya needed any confirmation of that.<p>

Kylon turned to look at them when he heard them approaching and said, "You here to report another crime?" He seemed to emphasize the word another, "I swear we should just cordon off the entire district," Then he seemed to take a better look at them and his tone changed, "Oh, uh. Can I help you, Warden?" He asked.

Lenya lifted her brow, "How do you know who I am?"

"Your likeness was passed around to the senior guardsmen at the palace, " Kylon replied, "I must say, the sketch didn't do you much justice," He added and then he assured, "Don't worry, even if I believed the 'official story' of what happened at Ostagar, I'm no fool."

"Nice to hear," Lenya said, "Would be refreshing change from all the fools I've seen this far."

Kylon smiled at that, "If I asked my men to apprehend you, they'd all run and cry big, sobby tears in their courtesans' bosoms and leave me skewered," He said, "Don't disturb the peace in the market and that's well enough for me."

"Understood," Lenya said, "I would like to avoid skewering you, Sergeant."

"Glad to hear it," Kylon said.

"You have problems here in the market district?" Lenya asked then and Kylon nodded, "How bad?"

"The Lower market is not deemed important by the captain of the guard, even less with Arl Howe in charge," Kylon replied and then sighed, "So when I finally get the new men I request, I get the delightful surprise of discovering they're Lord such-and-such's illegitimate, untrained, moronic whelps," Kylon's voice was full of frustration.

Lenya noticed one of the men standing near studying his hand like it was one of the wonders of the world. She understood fully Kylon's frustration.

"But the Lords keep sending me more of them. Its decent pay, no expectations, a uniform," Kylon continued and then he shook his head, "So I have legion of bastards to protect the market from pickpockets, stabbings, and what-not," He said and let out another frustrated sigh, "And Arl Howe's specially picked men are the worst of the lot."

"Seeing those..." Lenya nodded towards the morons standing nearby, "How can something be worse?"

"With the bastards I just have to worry about dicing, the odd bit of drool, or yelling at them too loudly and hurting their poor feelings and then getting chewed out by their noble fathers," Kylon explained, "But I swear the arl's men are more criminal than the miscreants we occasionally arrest. Some of them are the criminals we have to arrest," Kylon said with disgusted voice, "So if your lifeblood isn't draining in the gutters as we speak, don't bother reporting it."

"I can assure you that if someone attacks me, I'm not the one in the gutters," Lenya said.

"That I can believe," Kylon said.

"Do you happen to need any help?" Lenya then asked.

"What? Are you serious?" Kylon exclaimed, "I mean, yes. I could use help."

"Tell me;" Lenya said.

"I got a pretty popular... establishment... that's crawling with mercenaries," Kylon said, "If I send my boys in, someone might get-Maker forbid-hurt. And I'll have to explain their noble fathers that being a guard is actually dangerous," Kylon rolled his eyes and Lenya smiled. She started to like this shem.

"What do you need me to do?" Lenya asked.

"The name of the whorehouse is the Pearl," Kylon said and Lenya almost choked on her tongue. From the sound of it Alistair was choking in his tongue, "Something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," Lenya said, "My fellow Warden just learned something unexpected. Please continue."

Kylon studied her a moment before he continued, "Beat down any mercenaries that are out-of-line and send them a message," He said and then his voice changed more commanding, "I said beat down, not kill. Let me make that really clear. Not on fire, or exploded, or Maker knows whatever type of grisly death you can dream up."

"What?" Lenya said making her face look sad, "No explosions? Not even a little bit? Maybe the smallest mercenary we find from there? No one can surely miss one little mercenary?"

Kylon smiled a bit, "Sorry... used to giving orders to my boys. Just leave them breathing and I'll be happy."

"Sign me up, Sergeant," Lenya said.

"Thank you, Warden. Happy hunting," Kylon said and turned to look at his men, "Take that out of your nose," He said with desperate voice, "You don't know where that has been."

Lenya gave one look at the man the sergeant was talking to and grinned. The man had his finger up in his nose and he had blank look in his eyes.

"Makes you feel safe doesn't it?" Lenya said when they were walking away from the Sergeant.

"Not the word I would use," Leliana said, "Come, Zevran found the house of Genetivi while you were talking to the Sergeant," She added.

"Show off!" Lenya said to the assassin.

"What can I say, I'm irresistible," Zevran grinned.

"Lead the way," Lenya ordered smiling.

"You are not going to say anything about him trying to get me into a whorehouse?" Alistair asked with hurt voice.

"Why would I want to talk about that?" Lenya asked, "It might do you good to see some... ladies."

"What! You can't be serious!" Alistair exclaimed.

"It would be a good time to get rid of that virtue of yours, pike-twirler," Oghren said and belched.

"See, even Oghren agrees that it's a good idea," Lenya said.

"That is not reassuring," Alistair muttered and walked faster, getting some distance for them, "Its Oghren," He said and started to mutter to himself.

"Whorehouse, Zev?" Lenya said to Zevran after Alistair was out of hearing range.

"It will do him good," Zevran grinned.

"You're impossible, my friend," Lenya said, "Let's go see this Genitivi and then let's go buy Alistair a whore."

"I heard that," Alistair yelled back at them and Lenya chuckled. Alistair was too easy mark.

* * *

><p>With Zevran's information they found Genetivi's house easily, but when they stepped inside the house, something did not feel right for Leliana. There was something wrong in this house.<p>

When no one came to greet them Lenya just walked further in. She really did not know or did not care about the social rules of the humans. Leliana wondered how the Dalish did handle visitors. She doubted that anyone could just walk into another person's living space like Lenya had just done here.

"Yes?" A male voice said when Lenya stepped through the door, "What are you doing here?"

When Leliana stepped in after Lenya she saw a young man who looked at Lenya questioningly.

Lenya seemed to study the man and then came to the conclusion that this was not Genetivi, "I am looking for Brother Genetivi."

"Brother Genetivi?" The young man asked and he looked surprised, like it was somehow odd that people came to see Genetivi, "Why?" The young man inquired then.

"I would like to speak to him about his research," Lenya replied.

"His research?" The young man said and for a moment he looked like he had no idea what Lenya was talking about, but then he brightened, like he'd just remembered something," Ah, you mean his search for Andraste's ashes," The man continued and Lenya nodded, "He was on the trail of the Urn of Sacred Ashes, yes. Whether he found it... the Maker only knows," He let out a sigh that for Leliana seemed awfully theatrical, like he'd practiced it, "I haven't seen Brother Genetivi in weeks. He's sent no word; it's so unlike him. I am afraid something has happened. Genetivi's research into the Urn may have led him into danger."

"Why would searching for the Urn lead him into danger?" Lenya asked. Leliana got the feeling that Lenya was suspicious about this young man. She did not know if it was that odd skill of premonition or something else that rubbed Lenya wrong on this man. Leliana herself got the bad feeling of the man and she saw that so did Zevran, but that was not surprising since they were both trained to see such things.

"Perhaps the Urn has been lost for a reason. I pray for Genetivi's safety, but hope dwindles with each passing day," The man said. Leliana noticed that he did not answer for Lenya's question, "I-I tried to send help, but some knights came from Redcliffe looking for him not too long ago. I send them after Genetivi and they too have disappeared."

How did he know the knights had disappeared? - Leliana thought.

Lenya was actually staring the man now, "How do you know they disappeared?"

"Well, they..." The man started and looked like he was ready to bolt away from Lenya. She really did have a gift of making humans nervous, "They haven't returned, and they sent no word either," He continued and looked kind of smug.

"Why in the name of the Creators they would send you a word?" Lenya asked, "Best friends are you?"

"I... I don't know," The man said, unsure how he should handle Lenya, "After what happened to Genetivi, can you blame me for thinking the same thing could happen to the knights?" Lenya kept staring at him until he continued, "Perhaps I am just pessimist. I hope I am wrong."

"Since I need the damn ashes it seems I am hunting the knights now as well," Lenya said, "Now, you little idiot, tell me where you send the knights," She ordered then.

"Great, she is being diplomatic," Leliana heard Alistair mutter behind her.

"No, don't ask me where they went. You'll go after them, and what if ill-luck should befall you, too?" The man shook his said as he spoke, "This search is a curse, on all of us. Some things are not meant to be found. I know that now."

"I did not ask what you believe or know, shem idiot," Lenya said, "I said that you tell me where you send them and unless you want to start losing limbs you might want to get to that part where you tell me what I need to know," Lenya's voice did not rise at all as she delivered the threat.

"So be it," The man sighed, "All he said before he left was that he would be staying at an inn near Lake Calenhad, investigating something in that area," He then explained. Leliana stared at the man and she knew so were others. No one responded that calmly to Lenya when she was threatening them. Something was very wrong here.

"What exactly was he investigating," Lenya asked. If she was surprised about the lack of dread in the man, she did not show it.

"I don't know. All I discovered from going through his research was that he was staying at the inn," The man said. Whoever this man was, he was not very good at this. He kept contradicting himself.

"But you just said that he spoke to you and told you that," Lenya pointed out.

"Y-yes, of course he told me, but I also went through his things to see if I could find other clues to his whereabouts," The man said and he started to get increasingly nervous.

"And I suppose you found no other clues?" Lenya said, her voice dripping sarcasm.

"N-no I didn't. Everything pointed to the same place." The man replied nervously, "You're wasting time. If you insist on going after Brother Genetivi, you should leave as soon as possible," He then urged Lenya.

"You really do change your mind fast," Lenya said, "First you insist that I should not try to look for Genetivi and the Urn and moments later you tell me that I should hurry to do just that," She continued and shifted her balance from one leg to the other. Her movement was subtle, but it was clear as day to Leliana and most likely everyone in their group. Lenya was preparing for a fight.

"I mean, well... you seemed so earnest. If anyone is to find him, they should do it sooner rather than later," The man said. Leliana had to roll her eyes. Even Alistair was better at subterfuge than this idiot.

"Or do you just not like me asking all these questions?" Lenya asked and tilted her head and subtly shifted her balance a bit more.

"I... I'm just his assistant. I... I just follow instructions," The man said and licked his lips nervously.

"You sound nervous," Lenya pushed, "Hiding something?"

"That's n-not true. I told you everything I know," The man insisted, but his eyes darted on all of them, looking for something, "Brother Genetivi told us - t-told me about the inn and that's all," And there it was, the final confirmation.

"What's in this inn?" Lenya asked and her voice had now gained a dangerous edge, "Tell me now!" She then commanded.

"Nothing!" The man exclaimed, "I don't know! I-" Then his demeanor changed, "Bah! Why do I keep up this charade?" He asked and there was nothing left of the nervous assistant, "I gave you a chance to turn aside and forget you ever heard of Genetivi and the Urn. But you persisted." Then magic seemed to come alive around him and he rambled something about Andraste.

"It's about time," Lenya said and in one fluid movement behead the man. Leliana was sure she would never forget the surprised expression the man had on his face when his head was separated from his body, "Took him long enough to get to that point," Lenya said and swiped her sword clean of the blood.

"If you knew he was lying then why did you let it go on so long?" Alistair asked curiously.

"You all keep telling me that I can't go killing shems just because I think I should," Lenya said, "So I waited him to attack so I can say it was self-defense." She smiled.

"Lethallan..." Leliana said and put her hand on her love's shoulder, "In order for that to work you should have witnesses who can confirm that he attacked first and it also wouldn't hurt that you had some marks on you that show you were attacked." Leliana pointed at Lenya's clothes and armor that didn't have any marks on them.

Lenya stared at her and then she looked at the headless man on the floor, "Oh..." She just said and then she blushed, "I guess I didn't think this through then."

"I guess you didn't," Leliana smiled.

"And I think healing him is not an option?" Lenya then asked from Wynne.

"In the future, If you want me to heal someone, don't separate their heads from their bodies," Wynne said with a straight face, but Leliana saw that her lips were twitching as she was trying hard not to smile. Lenya saw that as well and blushed a bit more.

"Let's... let's see what we can find," Lenya then said and turned away from them all.

"Is it inappropriate for me to want to laugh while there is a headless body in the room?" Alistair whispered.

"Probably," Leliana said. It was hard to keep a straight face when Lenya was so endearingly cute as she tried to pretend nothing had happen.

It didn't take long for them to search the house. They found another body, a lot older one, from the bedroom. It was probably Genetivi's true assistant. They also found Genetivi's research notes. They really did point to the inn near Lake Calenhad, but only as a last stop before the trip to the village called Haven high in the mountains.

They also found rather disturbing books about dragon cults. The books seemed to belong to the man Lenya had killed.

"Do we have enough information to go on?" Lenya asked after they were again standing in the center room.

"If the village is where Genetivi thinks it is, then yes," Alistair replied, "No way of knowing until we are there though."

"Great," Lenya sighed, "We are done here then?"

"I'd say so, yes," Leliana replied.

"Let's go then," Lenya said, "We have a brothel to visit and then we need to find the house where your old master is."

That last one made a cold lump form in Leliana's throat. She'd tried to avoid even thinking of Marjolaine, but Lenya's words made it impossible.

Suddenly she felt a warm hand on her cheek, "It will be alright, ma vhenan," Lenya said, "I will not let her hurt you."

"Don't you understand," Leliana said, her voice anguished, "I am not worried of her hurting me, but that she might hurt you."

"She is welcome to try," Lenya said and her eyes seemed to lit up in a blue glow. Then she leaned forward and their lips touched, only slightly, but enough to make Leliana forget what she was about to say, "We better go. I don't want to be here if someone decide to come visit," Lenya said when she pulled away from the kiss.

"That was... sneaky," Leliana said accusingly.

Lenya only smiled at her. Leliana sighed; she knew that she could not make Lenya understand how dangerous Marjolaine was. No... that was not true, Lenya did understand, but she was confident enough of her own skills to not let Leliana's warnings to bother her.

Leliana was conflicted about that, on the other hand she knew how skilled Lenya was, she was probably one of the best swordsman in Thedas, but then again Leliana also knew what Marjolaine was capable off.

"Come," Lenya said gently and Leliana noticed that everyone where waiting for her.

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><p><strong>AN: And here we are at the end of the Chapter 30. Denerim hit Lenya quite hard. Not a nice place for an elf whose lived all her life in the forest where the air is clean.**

**Denerim will be a crowing experience for Alistair. I do hope he's up to the task.**

**Wynne also surprised me. Pleasantly for a change. Hopefully she's learning things as well. **

**Sergeant Kylon is one of my favorite characters in Denerim so I just had to include him in the story. No matter how many times I've played the game he still makes me laugh when he rants about the recruits. :)**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcomed. **


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Finally chapter 31 is ready. Lenya and the group continue their stay in Denerim.**

**I apologize for the long wait for this chapter, but I had some problems getting the chapter ready for uploading.**

**I wish to thank everyone who has been reading the story and special thanks to those who have fav/alerted it and given reviews.**

**Extra thanks goes to Faelan for her continued support. Thank you my friend.**

**Also thanks to Xe20 for beta reading.  
><strong>

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

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><p>Walk to the Pearl had not made Lenya like the city more; if anything it had made her like it less. She couldn't fathom how someone would want to live in a place like this. She dreaded to think how flat-ears, city elves lived, since from everything she'd heard from Zevran it was even worse.<p>

At least she did not feel like panicking anymore. It was weird that if she would need to choose between Deep Roads or this city, she would choose the Deep Roads.

"That's it?" Lenya asked from Zevran when they approached a building that looked a bit different than the rest of the buildings. It had certain gravity on it.

"Yes, that is the Pearl," Zevran nodded and then he breathed in deeply, "Ah, how I've missed that smell."

Lenya turned to look at him, "You've missed the smell of rotting garbage, excrement and who knows what else there is in this stuff I'm forced to inhale?"

"No, my friend, push past those and smell the lust behind it," Zevran said.

"I think I'll pass," Lenya said and she was sure she was looking green. Whole idea to inhale deeply made her sick.

"Let's go inside so you can get a good sniff of it without all those nasty things you mentioned," Zevran said.

"Just so you know, I am not going to pay for your good time here, Zev," Lenya said when Zevran opened the door, "Or yours," She turned to look at Oghren.

"Sodding woman, that is just cruel," Oghren said.

"Indeed it is my smelly belching friend," Zevran said, "Our gorgeous leader is a cruel woman," He continued and gave Lenya a sad face.

"That won't help either," Lenya grinned and then she stepped inside before the pair could try something else. She did not have anything against it if those two wanted to use the services here, but Creators be damned before she would pay it for them.

When the door closed behind them and the disgusting smells of the street were cut off Lenya had to agree with Zevran. The smell inside was nice. It must be something like that scented water she'd seen once before, in the last gathering of the clans. She'd wanted to buy it, but the price had been too much for her.

"It smells nice in here," Lenya said to Leliana who'd come in right after her.

"It's called a perfume," Leliana said.

"Maybe... if we have time... you could perhaps show me where to buy it," Lenya said feeling more than a little embarrassed.

"I'd love to," Leliana said and gave Lenya a triumphant smile.

"Don't get too excited, ma vhenan, I am still not going to get even near of those things you call shoes," Lenya shook her head and Leliana's lips started pouting, "If you want to take me to a weapon or armor smith I wouldn't mind though."

Leliana tried to keep her pouting expression, but in the end she chuckled, "You're impossible, mon coeur."

"Oh, I'm not impossible," Lenya said and smiled, "I'm merely hard to get, but worth the effort, I assure you," She added and gave Leliana a look that included all she felt towards Leliana and probably more than a little of the desire she felt for her.

Leliana's eyes got wide and her cheeks reddened slightly and her eyes told Lenya that she'd been thinking about it just like Lenya had been.

"You think those are the men we are supposed to get out of here?" Alistair asked and only then seemed to notice that the two women were not even seeing him, "Could you two at least wait until you are alone?" He sighed.

"Alistair..." Zevran sighed, "When you see two women looking each other like that you don't go interrupting them like that, you find a good spot and enjoy the show."

"Hot!" Oghren said emphasizing Zevran's words.

Lenya turned to look at the men and gave them a look that told them that they would never see anything they obviously hoped to see and if they ever would, she would cut pieces off them, pieces they might not want to lose.

Zevran and Oghren of course ignored the look and grinned, "You really do drive men crazy when you do that, my friend," Zevran said.

"Never mind," Lenya rolled her eyes, "I do think you are right Alistair, those men really do look like someone who needs to be thrown out."

"I'd advise caution if we can't kill them," Zevran said, "Men like those usually don't like it if you try to throw them out of the brothel."

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><p>Getting the mercenaries to leave did not take long. Lenya did what she was best at and used her own kind of diplomacy on the mercenaries and they left the Pearl in a hurry, but muttering threats at Lenya while they went. They would see those merc's again, for that Leliana was sure.<p>

Even though Alistair was supposed to be their leader Lenya handled the talking now. Mainly because Alistair kept blushing when he saw whores and no one would take him seriously while he did that. Leliana appreciated the beauty of the women she saw and she saw Lenya did so as well. Even though Lenya's expression darkened when she saw an elven woman escorted to the backrooms by a human man.

"Whores are treated fairly well in Pearl," Zevran said in a low voice, "Sanga won't tolerate anything inappropriate from the clients and violence against them is harshly punished."

"It feels wrong to see a shem buying one of the People like that, even though it's one of those who have forgotten," Lenya said quietly. Knowledge that this woman had it probably better than most elves in this cesspool didn't make her feel any better.

Leliana was about to put her hand on Lenya's shoulder when familiar sound drew their attention. When they turned towards the sound they saw a dark skinned woman fighting against two men.

Alistair started to draw his weapon, but Lenya stopped him, "She doesn't need help," Lenya said and walked closer. There was something in her voice that made them all stare at her; Respect and excitement.

Soon Leliana understood why. The dark skinned woman moved... just like Lenya did.

It didn't take long before the men that had attacked the dark skinned woman were beaten and they scrambled away from her. Followed by her amused words and a laugh, "Fools..."

When Lenya approached the woman she turned to look at them and her eyes stopped at Zevran, "And look who we have here," The woman said to Zevran, "Come to apologize for leaving me bereft of my lord husband and then vanishing without a trace?"

Lenya looked at Zevran curiously and lifted her brow, "You know it was just business, Isabela," Zevran said and then smiled, "Business that turned out well for you, I see - you inherited the ship, I take it?"

"Hmph," The woman, Isabela, scoffed, "I suppose I never did like the greasy bastard. And the Siren treats me far better than she ever did him."

"You two know each other?" Lenya asked even though it was obvious that they did.

"Indeed," Zevran said and motioned towards Isabela, "This is Isabela, queen of eastern seas and the sharpest blade in Llomerryn," Zevran introduced Isabela and then turned to Lenya, "And Isabela, my dear, you will no doubt be amused to discover that I am traveling with a Grey Warden," He said, "This gorgeous one is, Lenya, our leader."

Isabela's eyes widened a bit and then there was more than passing interest in them, "A Grey Warden?" She said and Lenya nodded, "Charmed," Isabela said and her voice seemed to purr when she said that and her eyes seemed to measure Lenya and apparently liked what they saw.

Leliana did not like how Isabela was looking at Lenya and she moved closer to Lenya, sending a clear message to this exotic beauty that Lenya was taken. She saw that the message was understood, but to Leliana's surprise it did not have the desired effect. Instead of stopping her flirting with Lenya, Isabela now directed her flirts to both of them.

"Your fighting skills are impressive," Lenya said like she did not even notice the flirting. She probably didn't. She tended to lose focus of the other things when it became learning more about fighting and Isabela had been so similar in style than Lenya herself was.

"I assume you saw that little drama?" Isabela asked and Lenya nodded, "None of these poor brutes has ever proven a match for me. They are too clumsy and predictable."

"I've noticed that most men are," Lenya said and Isabela grinned at that.

"I fight with quickness and wit, rather than with brute strength," Isabela said, "I call myself a duelist because I honed my skills in duels with warriors I encountered over the years."

"Could I duel you?" Lenya asked and Leliana heard the excitement from her voice. If there was something that Lenya liked it was to challenge her fighting skills.

"As I said, it is better to avoid being hit. And it is best not to get into fights at all," Isabela said.

"Ah, Isabela," Zevran said, "You disappoint our leader if you don't indulge her desire to test her skills against you. She is rarely impressed about fighting skills of others and you might be the only one who actually could defeat her."

"I don't know if I would go that far, but I do know that you could teach me something, if you would grant me that?" Lenya said to Isabela.

"Ha! An unusual request coming from a fearsome slayer of darkspawn. I am flattered that you wish to learn from me, sweet thing," Isabela said, "I could indulge your desire and grant you what you wish, but I do however, wish to get to know my potential student better, so we shall call for a drink and you will honor me with a game."

"All right," Lenya said without hesitation which told them all just how much she wanted to spar with Isabela, "What game?"

"Have you ever played Wicked Grace?" Isabela asked and Lenya shook her head, "It is easy to learn, but difficult to master. You must watch your opponent's moves as carefully as your own."

"So, it's like sword fighting, but with cards instead of swords," Lenya mused to no one in particular.

"Before we start, the cards must be shuffled. Shall I, or would you like to?" Isabela asked when they were both seated at the table.

Lenya seemed to study the cards and then looked at Isabela, "You shuffle them."

"Very well..." Isabela said and with practiced moves she started to shuffle the deck of cards. Her moves were fast and really hard to follow from Leliana's vantage point, but she was sure Isabela was cheating. Then she started to deal the cards, "Five cards each to start with... and may the cleverest player win," She said when the cards had been dealt, "The serpent-entwined dagger... I was looking for this," Isabela continued.

For a little while those two studied their cards. Leliana saw that Lenya did not know how to play and that she was only partially watching her own hand. She was more focused on Isabela and when Isabela reached out to take more cards Lenya's hand struck out and took firm grip from Isabela's wrist, startling her and making few cards she'd been trying to palm, drop to the table.

"Cheating, I see?" Lenya said calmly and released Isabela's hand.

"You certainly have quick reflexes. I'm quite impressed," Isabela said, "And as for me cheating, well the game does not matter. I just wanted to see if you could outwit me," She continued.

"Impressive," Zevran whispered to Leliana, "It is easy to please Isabela, but it is not so easy to impress her."

Leliana did not say anything, but she had to agree. Lenya had read Isabela like an open book. She had not paid any attention to the cards or the game, but focused solely on Isabela herself. It would be nice to know if this was Lenya's strategic mind at work or if it was her odd premonition at work.

"You have proven yourself quick and resourceful, and I would be honored to grant you the duel," Isabela said.

"Are you doing anything right now?" Lenya asked and Leliana could imagine her eyes lighting up from excitement..

"So eager," Isabela said and licked her lips and gave flirtatious look to Lenya, "What would I give to get you to a tumble."

"No," Leliana said before Lenya had chance to say anything.

"If you want to come together I don't mind," Isabela said and winked at her.

"Would you stay on topic," Lenya said and her voice was annoyed, "I'll want my duel."

"You better give her what she wants, my dear Isabela," Zevran said, "If you are still up after it I'll be more than happy to take that tumble offer," He smiled, "And just so you know, my dear, I don't mind it either if you two want to join with us," He said to Leliana and Lenya.

"Ah, Zevran," Isabela laughed, "I better take care of this duel then. There is enough room for us at the backyard of the Pearl to do our fight."

Soon they were all standing outside and not just their companions, but some of the patrons of the Pearl as well, apparently Isabela had a reputation and people wanted to see what happen.

"Are you actually making bets?" Leliana asked from Zevran. She'd spotted him talking with people and that money had changed hands.

"Just a little bit," Zevran replied, "I need to gather money since Lenya doesn't want to pay my stay in here."

"I hope you at least bet for Lenya winning," Leliana said.

"Of course," Zevran said, "They are giving rather good odds for that since they all think that Isabela will win this easily."

"And you think Lenya will win?" Alistair joined the conversation.

"Actually, I am not sure," Zevran confessed, "Isabela is really good, but is she better than Lenya... I don't know."

"They're starting," Leliana said and nodded towards the combatants.

Unlike Lenya, Isabela was using two daggers instead of swords and she had no armor to speak of. Leliana heard someone comment that the fight was like rabbit against a turtle. That made her smile. They were in for a surprise. Lenya might be armored, but that didn't slow her down at all.

Lenya and Isabela both unsheathed their weapons and that made the crowd stir for the first time. Leliana understood it well. Effortless ease Lenya demonstrated while unsheathing her swords made more than one watcher think that maybe the winner of the fight wasn't so clear after all.

Then the combatants shared few hits to measure up their opponent. Neither had any difficulties parrying the strikes.

"Should we stop playing?" Isabela asked and Lenya grinned.

"Perhaps," Lenya said and then they both moved and their weapons met in the middle and then they started to... dance. There was no other word Leliana could use to describe the graceful movements of the pair. Every perfect attack was met with equally perfect parry and so on.

"She's really good," Alistair said in awe.

"They both are," Leliana said and Alistair nodded.

The dance between the two combatants continued and it was a testament of their skills to adapt and adapt quickly that neither could gain an advantage over the other even though both used moves the other seemed not to know.

Then it happened, a small rock slid under Isabela's foot and she stumbled, not much, but against Lenya it was enough. With small flick of her wrist she disarmed Isabela's left hand dagger and directed the other one wide to the right and then the tip of Lenya's sword touched Isabela's chin.

"Are you sure you are not interested in a tumble?" Isabela asked, her eyes sparkling.

"No," Lenya shook her head and sheathed her swords, "I am honored of your continued interest of it though," She smiled.

"Anyone who fights like you do, sweet thing, has to be something magnificent in bed," Isabela said.

"Perhaps," Lenya said and she gave Leliana a brief look that made her breath catch in her throat. There was hunger in Lenya's eyes that made Leliana's stomach flutter. Lenya smiled and then turned to look at Isabela again, "I want to thank you for granting me this," She said, "It is refreshing to meet someone whose skills are as good as my own," She bowed slightly, "If you ever need help on something send a word and if I'm still alive I will come. This, I, Lenya Mahariel, promise to you, Mi falon."

"There is no need, for promises like that, sweet thing," Isabela said, "I did lose so I can't be as good as you."

"Loose rock is what caused you to lose, not my skills alone," Lenya said, "As for the promise, it is yours, Isabela," Then she turned around and walked back into the Pearl.

Leliana stared at Lenya and Isabela. Lenya was just showing more respect to Isabela than she had done to any other human they had seen and even more than she showed to most of the humans in their own group. If Leliana understood correctly Lenya had just called Isabela a sword friend or perhaps a blade friend.

"She does that sort of thing often?" Isabela asked from Leliana and watched the way Lenya had walked.

"No," Leliana shook her head, "She does not think much of humans in general and for her to not just call you on your own name and to give you promise like that..." She shook her head again, it was really puzzling.

"We better go after her," Alistair said, "I don't want to explain anyone why she'd behead someone if some idiot in there thinks she's a whore."

"Yes, you're right," Leliana said and then they followed Lenya inside.

"What I'd give to get those two into bed," Leliana heard Isabela saying and Zevran's reply, "I know what you mean, dear Isabela."

* * *

><p>After Lenya got back inside the Pearl she inhaled deeply. The scent of the perfume inside helped to banish the offensive smells of the city.<p>

"Thank you for getting rid of those louts," Finely dressed human woman said to her, "I guess I owe Sergeant Kylon for this."

"It was no problem," Lenya said, "Those men were idiots," She shrugged.

"Even so, you have my thanks," The woman said, "I am Sanga, owner of the Pearl, so if there is anything you need, just ask."

"There is one thing you could help me," Lenya said, remembering the poster.

"Any service I can offer is yours, if you can afford to pay," Sanga said.

"I have no need for that kind of service myself," Lenya shook her head, "Some of my companions might want to use them however, but that was not the thing I was referring."

"If not for that, then how I can help?" Sanga inquired.

"There was this poster in the markets that said there is some kind of gathering in here," Lenya said and Sanga paled, "Ah, I see you know of it," Lenya continued, "You don't have to tell me anything else than where it is."

"Through that door and to the last door on your left," Sanga said.

"I try not to break too many things," Lenya said and motioned Leliana, Alistair and Wynne to follow her.

When she got to the door Sanga had mentioned she knocked at it, "Password?" Came muffled voice through the door.

"Griffons will fly again," Lenya said and then she heard clicks as someone was opening the door.

The door was opened by a dirty looking human who then walked at the back of the room where there was an elven woman in armor standing there. She also noticed two large men who resembled Sten.

"Another Grey Warden supporter, Shaevra," The man said to the elf who kept studying Lenya intently.

"Not just a supporter, Paedan," The elf, Shaevra, said and her eyes widened, "That's a Grey Warden," She added, "She is the one Arl Howe is looking for."

"It's a trap," Lenya heard Alistair mutter, "What a surprise."

"Our trap landed a Warden?" The man, Paedan, asked and he looked stunned, "You've got one chance to surrender," He then orders.

Lenya let out a small laugh, "You know, that would be very impressive if you would have an army with you," Lenya said to the pair who were a bit confused about Lenya's reaction, "I can wait if you want to send a message for reinforcements."

"We're not common guards, Warden. We're Howe's elite," Paedan snarled and drew his weapon.

"Ooh," Lenya said and did the same, "I'm absolutely trembling in fear here," She said.

"Shaevra, Tennant, and Jarvy-let's kill ourselves a Warden," Paedan said and attacked Lenya. She parried the attack easily and sidestepped to let Alistair through to attack those two large qunari looking men. Leliana was already fighting Shaevra.

"Elite, you say," Lenya said to Paedan when he attacked again. He seemed to be your regular brute who relied on strength alone and if Lenya's strength had not been unusual for an elf the man might have been a challenge, but now... he was just a brute, "Maybe you should stop eating so much and actually focus on how to use your weapon," Lenya said and avoided another hit by just dodging it, "And it would also make you groan a little less... I mean you sound like a... never mind, I don't want to insult any animal by comparing you to them."

"Bloody knife-ear!" Paedan cursed when his swing made him lose his balance, "I'll cut your e-!" His rant was stopped short by Lenya's sword cutting his throat open.

"Howe's elite," Lenya snorted, "Makes you wonder what his normal troops are like," She continued and stepped over the dying body of Paedan and towards the other qunari that was trying to get past Alistair.

When she took the pressure of from Alistair they finished the two qunari's in a matter of moments, just in time to witness Leliana deliver a killing blow to Shaevra.

"What a waste," Lenya said and kneeled beside the dying elf, "No elf should die like this, while doing dirty work for a Shem who does not deserve it," She touched the cheek of the woman gently, ignoring the hate in her eyes and just was there for her final moments and when the light dimmed in her eyes she closed them, "Falon'Din guide you to the Beyond, sister," She added in elvish.

No one said anything to her, but she could feel their eyes on her. Perhaps they understood, but even if they didn't it changed little. This was something she had to do.

"Check the body of that idiot," Lenya ordered Alistair who only nodded and went to search the body of Paedan.

"Are you alright?" Leliana asked and touched her shoulder.

"I am," Lenya said, "You don't have to worry about me falling to pieces when we need to kill elves. It's always a shame to lose one, but if they are so stupid that they attack us. I have no qualms about killing them and I do not blame any of you if you need to do so," She added, "I do know that, just because they are elves does not automatically make them good."

"Very sensible attitude," Wynne said.

"Yeah, I have my moments," Lenya said and stood up. She hoped Wynne would not try to preach something and it really seemed that the old mage was going to just stop there, "Did you find anything from him?"

"Some money and this," Alistair said and handed a rolled up note to Lenya.

Lenya opened the note and read it through before giving it to Leliana, "Just some congratulatory note from Howe to these idiots of how nice trap they had come up with," Lenya said.

"Just how stupid people there are in this city that they actually believed that damn poster in the markets?" Alistair asked.

"Don't underestimate the effect hope has on people," Leliana said, "They saw what they wanted to see. Grey Wardens are heroes to many even if they have been painted in very bad light in Ferelden."

"It just seems so..." Alistair shook his head.

"It does," Lenya nodded, "We should leave."

"I agree," Leliana said, "Sanga has to report this to Howe and then they know we are in the city."

"You think we could pay her to wait a day or two?" Lenya asked.

"It could be possible," Leliana said, "You better ask Zevran if he has any ideas."

"Just so you know, that if the idea involves me and the Pearl in some way, I'll quit," Alistair said.

"Now what kind of attitude is that?" Lenya grinned, "Where's your team spirit?"

"I think I left it on my other pants," Alistair replied and they all stepped out of the room.

"Poor Alistair," Lenya laughed and then stared at the door, "A shame we can't lock the door from the inside."

"I may be able to do something to it," Leliana said and Lenya nodded her to do what she could.

"It should be locked now," Leliana said after she'd handled the lock for a few minutes.

"Thank you, ma vhenan," Lenya said.

* * *

><p>"You really can't go anywhere without being attacked, my friend," Zevran said to Lenya when he saw her coming to the main room of the Pearl and that her clothes had blood stains in them.<p>

"Not my fault the world is full of idiots who want to get killed by me," Lenya said.

"I often have the same problem, my sweet," Isabela said, "Went to see the people trying to catch Wardens?" She asked then.

"You knew about them?" Lenya asked.

"Yes," Isabela nodded, "They were not very subtle about it."

"I noticed," Lenya said, "Didn't stop some people going there though."

"People see what they want to see, sweet thing," Isabela said, "Take you for instance, you are seen as a dangerous elf by most. Not as a gorgeous red haired woman with skin like a smooth satin and a body to die for," Zevran had to applaud Isabela. She was trying to get into Lenya's pants even harder than he had. Of course she had the advantage of actually being a woman. It was so unfair.

"Still not interested in a tumble," Lenya said, "And how can you even be sure that my body is to die for?"

"Well, isn't it?" Isabela asked innocently.

"Well..." Lenya started, but she was interrupted by Leliana who said, "Yes it is," Lenya turned to look at Leliana and then grinned at Isabela, "It seems that I actually do have a body to die for."

"Ooh..." Isabela said and closed her eyes, "You are a such a tease," She added then.

"No..." Leliana said and stepped close to Isabela, "For her to be a tease she should get close to you and make the blood in your veins boil and your breath get caught up in your throat from the desire to run your fingers on her bare skin until soft moans escapes from her lips and just when you are about to touch her..." Without finishing her sentence Leliana turned to Lenya and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

Zevran had to chuckle at Isabela's expression. He saw how badly she wanted to join those two. He also had to applaud Leliana now. She might have spent a long time in the Chantry, but she still knew how to play the game.

"Lenya?" Alistair said, but the kissing women did not even seem to hear him.

"Is he always like that?" Isabela asked without taking her eyes off the kissing pair.

"Unfortunately yes," Zevran replied, "He just insists on interrupting things when they get interesting like that."

"Maybe we should get him a..." Isabela started, but Alistair stopped her, "Absolutely not!"

"What did I tell you, impossible," Zevran smiled.

"I do not want to interrupt your tender moment, but we really should think what to do now," Alistair said to Lenya and Leliana, "Unless you of course want to have fun with Howe's men when they find out what we did."

Lenya and Leliana stopped their kiss and turned to look at Alistair, "Spoilsport," Leliana said.

"That he is," Lenya agreed, "He's right, but still a spoilsport."

"Faster we are done here in Denerim, faster we can continue our journey and I am quite sure you can continue that in more peaceful surroundings out there," Alistair said, "And it also smells better outside."

"Hmm..." Lenya said, "He does have a very compelling argument, lethallan," She added and Leliana nodded, "Okay, Alistair, you made your point."

"I did?" Alistair asked, surprised. He obviously had not been expecting Lenya to listen to him.

"You did," Lenya smiled and then she turned to talk to Zevran and Isabela, "We need a day or two before Sanga there sends message to Howe that we have killed his men in here. Leliana locked the door behind us, but Sanga knows we were there and we have marks of fighting so I would be surprised if she doesn't add things up."

"Easiest way would be to kill the messenger she sends," Isabela said.

"She probably has a messenger she always uses on things like this and she might send another when the first messenger doesn't return and..." Zevran shook his head, "How is our money situation?" He asked from Lenya.

"At the moment quite good," Lenya replied, "We still have most of what Lady Orta gave us and we still have things to sell, why?"

"Give me a moment," Zevran said and then he and Isabela went to speak with Sanga.

* * *

><p>Lenya followed the pair and hoped Zevran would not spend everything they had to buy them few days advantage.<p>

"He knows what to do," Leliana said.

"Let's hope so," Lenya said and then she smiled, "That kiss was... something," She said. She'd been surprised when Leliana had started the kiss, but then it had made her whole body hum.

"I'm sorry about that," Leliana said and she looked a bit embarrassed.

"Why are you apologizing a kiss that made my whole being hum?" Lenya asked, confused.

"No, no!" Leliana shook her head, "I am not sorry about the kiss itself, but why I did it. All that flirting that... that woman did to you..."

"You were jealous of Isabela?" Lenya asked and her whole being showed a surprise, "Why?"

"She is beautiful woman and she's flirted with you nonstop since we met her," Leliana pointed out, but Lenya looked puzzled and she turned to look at Isabela.

"I guess she is beautiful..." Lenya shrugged, "I didn't pay much attention to that though."

"You didn't...?" Leliana started, but stopped because the whole thing was so incredulous, "How could you not notice that? She's been trying to get into your pants this whole time."

"I don't know..." Lenya shrugged, "I was interested of her fighting skills not her pants."

Leliana could only shake her head in disbelief. Every time she thought she'd figured Lenya out she did something totally amazing.

"But now that I know how wild jealousy makes you... I might try it out," Lenya said and smirked at Leliana, "That kiss was really... hot."

Leliana blushed and then smiled, "It was," She agreed, "Maybe... when we are alone..." She let her words trail away.

"Yes, ma vhenan'ara," Lenya smiled.

"'Tis sickening," Morrigan interrupted them and she looked disgusted.

"I've told you once already that you don't need to watch," Lenya said, "Unless you actually like to watch us and then complain about it."

"'Tis ridiculous," Morrigan scoffed.

"You do keep watching them though," Alistair joined the conversation, "Something you like to share with us?" He asked, amused.

"Idiot," Morrigan muttered and then went to the other side of the room to stand.

"I enjoyed that," Alistair said happily. Lenya and Leliana both chuckled at that, "Zevran returns," Alistair said then.

"Well?" Lenya asked when Zevran and Isabela joined them.

"Sanga has promised to delay sending the message for two days if we pay her fifteen gold," Zevran replied.

"Only fifteen?" Leliana asked, "I'd thought she'd ask at least double that."

"I guess she was feeling generous," Zevran shrugged, but Leliana saw that he was hiding something.

"That's bit odd, but I guess we should thank our luck," Lenya said and gave Zevran the needed gold.

"If you don't need me at the moment, my dear Warden, I am going to stay here and catch up the old times with Isabela here," Zevran said after taking the gold.

"Fine by me," Lenya nodded, "You know where to find us, but please do try to be back before we leave."

"As you wish, my sexy Goddess," Zevran bowed.

"Maker, you're impossible!" Wynne said and went to stand with Morrigan.

Lenya followed Wynne with her eyes and chuckled and then she turned to Oghren, "You want to stay here as well?"

"You paying?" Oghren asked and gave her a hopeful look.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "I told you that if you want to have fun, you will pay for it yourself."

"You are evil woman, Warden," Oghren said, "Denying man a pleasure such as this..."

"You do have coins of your own, Oghren," Leliana said, confused, "I know Lenya gave you half of what she got of the inscriptions."

"That's for sodding drinks, woman!" Oghren exclaimed and he looked like Leliana had just insulted him.

"Poor Oghren," Lenya grinned, "Drunk and alone or sober with company. It's a cruel world," She added, "We are leaving now," She then decided.

"Sodding women!" Oghren muttered as they left the Pearl.

* * *

><p>As far as Lenya could tell, and she was less than sure she really could tell, they were halfway back to the markets when they saw Sergeant Kylon walking towards them. He had five men with him.<p>

"I was hoping I'd find you," Kylon said, "I heard about the Pearl," And then he shook his head in disbelief, "I don't know how, but you got them to leave with no fuss at all."

"Lenya can be very persuasive when she wants to," Alistair said, "And you can't even imagine how scary she can be."

"Flatterer," Lenya smiled.

"Whatever you did, great work," Kylon said, "The Pearl's "workers" will-" He continued, but he was stopped by a several men stepping in view and more trying to circle them. Without waiting what Kylon was going to do Lenya motioned every one of her companions to move so they wouldn't get completely surrounded.

"You think you can give orders to White Falcons!" The man leading the group said as more of his men came into a view, "Nobody gives orders to my men but me. A little lesson in respect is in order," He continued and swung nasty looking axe threateningly towards Lenya...

"Seems that I can hurt them after all," Lenya said to Kylon.

"Ah, I see," Kylon said, "Don't bother sparing these louts. Things are about to get messy."

"Wasn't planning on leaving them alive, but thank you for approving," Lenya smiled and unsheathed her swords. She focused on the leader, but several of his men stepped between Lenya and him.

* * *

><p>Kylon was certain that they could win the fight, even if they were outnumbered. He thanked the Maker that he didn't take any of the drooling simpletons with him though.<p>

White Falcons were not the worse mercenary band in Ferelden so the men were at least good with their weapons so Kylon and his men had more than enough work to keep themselves alive.

When he finally found enough time to see how the Wardens were doing, he almost got ran through by a mercenary joining the fight against him. The male Warden was steadily holding his ground and bodies were piling around him. He was definitely skilled with his weapons. He was accompanied with the dwarf who seemed to cut the enemies to pieces while he growled at them. That one was a berserker if Kylon had ever seen one. Both mages stood behind those two and kept them healed. Kylon also noticed that the mages healed his men as well. The red haired human woman used a bow and picked Falcon's archers out one by one.

What really made Kylon to take another look was the elven Warden. Never in his life he'd seen such graceful, but terrifying dance. The elven Warden moved from one place to another without ever stopping between them. Her swords found their marks around the defenses of the mercenaries and if they were not dead when she moved ahead they were incapacitated somehow. Lost limbs or cut tendons preventing them to fight anymore.

Kylon killed the mercenary he had been fighting and noticed that he had ran out of mercenaries to fight. There was only few remaining and those were already taken for.

Then the Elven Warden was against the leader of the mercenaries and even though he possessed greater skills than his men he was nowhere near skilled enough to go against the Warden. Which the poor sod found out after they had traded few blows. In matter of seconds his left hand was uselessly hanging at his side and blood dripping from the wound where the Warden's sword had cut the tendon there.

"Well, you were right," The Warden said, "Nobody gives orders to your men but you," She added and guided the axe wide before running the tip of her sword through the stomach of the leader, "As you can see they are all dead," She held the man standing with her sword and then almost casually severed his head.

Kylon could only shake his head. He really didn't understand how anyone could be stupid enough to go against the Warden.

Then Kylon looked around to see if anyone was hurt. He sighed when he saw two of his men lying on the ground. Both of them clearly dead. He also saw that one other was wounded, but the elderly mage was already healing him.

Warden and her companions had fared much better than he and his men. Except for minor cuts and bruises they were all unharmed.

"People actually voluntarily attack you?" Kylon asked from the elven Warden, "Are they stupid?" They had killed a group over twice the size of their own and only lost two men.

"Yeah," The elven Warden smiled and wiped her sword clean of the blood, "Some people just seem to enjoy getting killed by me," Her eyes seemed to glow with blue light when she spoke.

Kylon let out a little disbelieving laugh and shook his head, "Here's the payment I promised," He handed the coin pouch to the Warden, "I might have more work, if you're interested."

"We still have some things to do in here so I'm interested," The elven Warden said, "I do need to wash this though or I might cause a panic," She added and touched her surcoat. It had more than little blood in it.

"There are few washing women at the markets who can wash that for you," Kylon suggested.

"If they even see me," The Warden said and let out a disgusted sigh.

"If you refer for you being an elf, then you don't need to worry," Kylon said, "If you have the coin they will do business with you."

"We'll see," The Warden said. She was clearly not assured.

Kylon decided not to say anything else, "I'm heading back to the Market District. The back alleys are just too dangerous for me."

"We'll come as well," The elven Warden said, "And while we walk, you can tell me what other work you might have for us."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So there it is. Chapter 31 done. The party will remain in Denerim for atleast one more chapter. Perhaps more.**

**I know at least some wanted for some threesome with Lenya, Leliana and Isabela and I admit that it did tempt me a bit while I played the game, but in the end that is just not in Lenya's character. :)**

**I know it is a game mechanic thing that only rogue can learn to be duelist, but I'll be damned if Lenya could not learn to be one as well. In the end I did just added a duel between Lenya and Isabela. Since I know Lenya did really want that. :)**

**Another game mechanic thing is that no one seem to wonder if you kill the Howe's Warden trappers at the Pearl. So, I improvised a bit and Zevran pribed Sanga.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcome.**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Chapter 32 is here. Lenya and co. are still in Denerim. There is few things they need to do before they can leave. Hopefully before Loghain's and Howe's forces notice they are there.**

**I wish to thank everyone who is reading the story and special thanks to those who reviewed.  
><strong>

**Special thanks to Faelan for the support and encouragement. You are truly awesome my friend. *hugs***

**I had no beta reader in this chapter so I apologize for any grammatic errors you may encounter. Feedback is appreciated so I may perhaps fix things.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize is property of Bioware. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p>Alistair hesitated when he approached the door that lead to the room Lenya shared with Leliana and Wynne. He was about to ask a favor from Lenya and had no idea how she would react to that.<p>

He took a few deep steadying breaths and then knocked.

"Who is it?" Wynne's voice asked.

"Me, Alistair," Alistair replied.

"Come in, dear," Wynne said.

When Alistair opened the door and stepped inside he saw Wynne and Leliana sitting in the room, but no sign of Lenya.

"What brings you in here?" Wynne asked.

"I was hoping to talk with Lenya," Alistair replied.

"She is taking a bath," Leliana said, "I can go ask if she's ready."

"No!" Alistair shook his head, "Don't go disturb her just because of me."

"Still afraid of her, are you?" Leliana asked smiling.

"Well... a bit," Alistair replied and lowered his eyes to the ground.

"I'll go tell her that you are here," Leliana said and before Alistair could stop her she disappeared into the other room.

"She's going to kill me," Alistair muttered.

"I doubt it," Wynne said, "She has been there almost an hour already."

"That's not very assuring," Alistair said, "You remember how much she loved those baths in Orzammar?"

"Those were way better than the one in here," Lenya's voice said from the door and Alistair turned to look at her. Lenya's hair were still wet and she was wearing some kind of bathrobe. "You wanted to talk to me?" She asked and sat down.

"Yes..." Alistair said and then looked at Wynne and Leliana, "I would prefer it to be just you, though," He said hesitantly.

"Come Leliana," Wynne said, "Let's go see what kind of food we could find."

Leliana looked like she wanted to stay, but Lenya motioned her to go. Before she went however, she leaned down and kissed Lenya.

"Okay, what did you want to talk to me about?" Lenya asked when they were alone in the room.

"Maybe this is not the best time..." Alistair started. Suddenly he felt really nervous. Maybe it was because Lenya sat there in her bathrobe looking way too much like a woman.

"Alistair, if you dragged me out off the bath and then chicken out on whatever you were planning on telling me I will beat the Creators out of you," Lenya said calmly.

"Ah..." Alistair said, "I just found out that the time is perfect to tell this," He quickly added, "Now that we are in Denerim I wonder if we could... look someone up."

"You have a friend outside the Grey Wardens?" Lenya asked curiously. Her voice made it clear what she meant by the friend.

"I'm not talking about a friend, exactly," Alistair replied and when Lenya grinned he hurried to add, "And, no, it's not that sort of friend, either."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Lenya smiled.

"No, but you were thinking of it," Alistair scoffed, "Anyway, the thing is that I have a sister. Half-sister," He then started to explain, "I told you about my mother, right?" He asked and Lenya nodded, "She was a servant at Redcliffe Castle, and she had a daughter... only I never knew her."

Without thinking Alistair started to pace back and forth. Lenya did not say anything, just followed her with her eyes.

"I don't think she knew about me, either. They kept my birth a secret, after all," Alistair continued as he paced, "But after I became a Grey Warden I did some checking and... well, I found out she's still alive. In Denerim."

"Have you contacted her?" Lenya asked.

"No, I thought about writing her, but I never did," Alistair replied, "And then we were called to Ostagar and I never got the chance."

"You want to see her before we leave Denerim," Lenya said. She did not ask, but simply stated the fact.

"She's the only real family I have left, the only family not also mixed up in the whole royal thing," Alistair said, "I've just been thinking that... maybe it's time I went to see her," He continued and somehow felt need to explain more, "With the Blight coming and everything. I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to see her. Maybe I can help her, warn her about the danger, I don't know."

"What are you expecting she will do?" Lenya asked, "Something like what you experienced in the Beyond?" She continued and only then Alistair understood that Lenya had not only known that he had a sister, but also what a part of him wanted from this reunion with his sister.

"I am not sure," Alistair replied, "What happen in the Fade... I guess I would want that, but I'm not sure it would be healthy to expect so much. I don't know anything about her except her name and where she lives," He continued, "Her name is Goldanna and I think she remarried, but still lives just outside the Alienage. If we are in the area, then... well, it's worth a look."

"We can do that tomorrow," Lenya said, "If we are still alive after meeting with Leliana's old master."

"You've found the house?" Alistair asked.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "We'll go there after the dark."

"Do you know anything about what to expect?" Alistair asked.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "I only know she is a bard master and that she's survived this long so she's dangerous and skilled. Leliana is scared of her."

"Do you know what happened between them?" Alistair asked. He knew that this Marjolaine had tried to kill Leliana, but not much else.

"Yes," Lenya said and her voice changed. It was now cold as ice and her eyes were glowing bright blue.

"Oh..." Alistair said and took a step backwards, "I won't get in your way," He said then. He knew without a doubt that Lenya would kill Marjolaine and nothing could prevent that from happening. This time Alistair doubted that even Leliana could stop Lenya.

"Good," Lenya said and closed her eyes. It still took a while before she wasn't radiating fury.

"Thank you for listening me," Alistair said when Lenya was calmer.

"Family is important," Lenya just said.

"Regardless, thank you," Alistair said and then he left the room.

* * *

><p>Lenya kept careful eye on Leliana as they walked through the quiet street. Leliana seemed the get more and more nervous and scared the closer they were at the house where Marjolaine should be. Lenya knew that Leliana would not flee now, but her fear cut deeply in Lenya herself. If she could she would spare Leliana from this.<p>

"That's the house the note mentioned," Alistair said and pointed at the house at the end of the street.

Lenya stopped and studied the house. There was no guards outside, but that was not a surprise. Marjolaine wouldn't want to draw attention to the house by placing guards in plain view. Light was shining out of the window so someone was inside.

"If there are guards they are waiting inside, just behind the front door," Leliana said. She tried to appear like she was alright, but Lenya could hear the fear in her voice.

"Let's go in then," Lenya said, "You all know what to do," She added then. She also cursed Zevran since the man had not returned yet. She could have used his talents now.

Lenya was the first one to enter the house so she was also the first one to be attacked. Two large men rushed towards her, but all those practice matches with Sten made it easy to dodge their attacks. She glided between them and opened a clear path for Alistair and Oghren to attack.

Since the men were trying to kill Lenya as she went through they had turned their backs on the door and were cut down by Alistair and Oghren.

"Not very good guards," Lenya said when the attackers were dead and she studied them, "More Tal-Vasoth's it seems. Sten would be happy."

"If he even knows how to do that," Alistair muttered, "Smile would probably break his face."

"Perhaps," Lenya smiled and then pushed open the door leading deeper into the house. She saw a woman in a dress standing on the other side of the room. The woman watched the door intently and only slight widening of her eyes betrayed her surprise when she saw Lenya. From Leliana's description Lenya knew that the woman was Marjolaine.

Lenya stepped inside the room and quickly checked the room. There was two doors leading out off it, but both of them were closed. Even though there was nothing out of ordinary on the doors, they did make Lenya uneasy.

The woman standing in the room kept her eyes on Lenya and other than the contempt radiating from her towards Lenya she didn't say anything or even move.

Then Lenya felt Leliana stepping in the room and the woman started to speak, "Leliana! So lovely to see you again, my dear..."

"Spare me the pleasantries. I know you're-" Leliana started, but Marjolaine interrupted her, "Oh, you must excuse the shabby accommodations... I try to be a good host, but you see what I have to work with?" Marjolaine said making Leliana confused, "This country smells like wet dog. Everywhere. I cannot get the smell out. Even now it is in my hair, my clothes... ugh."

Lenya gave a glance at Leliana, but she was still confused, "I don't give a rats ass about what your hair smells or what you do with the dogs," Lenya said to Marjolaine, "But there is this little thing with assassins attacking us and trying to kill Leliana," She continued and locked her eyes on Marjolaine's who in turn tried to avoid looking Lenya in the eyes, "Now, I'm usually pretty grumpy about people trying to kill my friends and I like to cut heads of the people responsible, so why don't you tell us why did you sent assassins after Leliana and then... well, we'll see."

"So business-like, your companion," Marjolaine said and did her best to avoid looking at Lenya. Lenya heard Alistair mutter something about Lenya being subtle as a brick wall.

"You framed me, had me caught and tortured," Leliana said finally, "I thought that in Ferelden, I would be free of you, but it seems I am not."

"Just shows she needs to be killed," Lenya muttered quietly to herself. She didn't know if anyone heard her and she didn't care.

"What happened to make you hate me so? Why do you want me dead so badly?" Leliana demanded from her old mentor.

"Dead?" Marjolaine asked, "Nonsense. I know you, my Leliana. I know what you are capable of. Four, five men... you can dispatch easily," She said and waved her hand dismissively, "They were sent to give you cause to come to me. And see? Here you are," She continued. Her voice telling them that it was just so, but Lenya saw behind that mask and she saw a woman whose plans had really not worked.

"And here I thought you said the Orlesians are advanced, but this bitch doesn't even know how to write a letter and sent it to you," Lenya said to Leliana, "Even I know how to write and I'm just a savage forest loving tree hugger," She continued, "Ah, yes, I don't actually believe what you said," She then turned to say to Marjolaine who looked like she was about to explode. It was so nice to talk to shems like that. The higher they thought they were the less they liked elves talking them and even less they liked elves calling them idiots.

"You are so transparent," Leliana said, "What are you up to, Marjolaine? Why are you in Ferelden?" She demanded.

"In truth?" Marjolaine asked and now she became serious, "You have knowledge that you can use against me. For my own safety. I cannot let you be," She continued.

"For your own safety you might have wanted to consider it," Lenya said, but Marjolaine intentionally ignored her.

"Did you think I did not know where you were?" Marjolaine asked, "Did you think I would not watch my Leliana?" She continued without waiting an answer, "_'What is she up to?'_ I thought. _'The quiet life, the peasant clothes, hair ragged and messy like a boy... this is not her'_." Marjolaine said and started to take a step forward, but when Lenya lifted her hand towards her sword she stopped, "You were planning something, I told myself... but no letters were sent. No messages. You barely spoke to anyone."

"Yeah, she was a bit quiet back then," Lenya mused to herself and Marjolaine kept trying to ignore her. It started to annoy Lenya though. She really didn't like it when people treated her like she was not there, especially when she was armed, "Then she talked my ears off about the Maker and I ignored all the Maker talk. Was fun."

Marjolaine gave annoyed look at Lenya before she continued to talk to Leliana, "Clever, Leliana, very clever. You almost had me fooled. But then you left the Chantry, so suddenly. What conclusion should I draw? You tell me."

"You think I left because of you?" Leliana asked incredulously, "You still think I still have some plan for... for revenge? You are insane. Paranoid!" She exlaimed.

"Well, you could have like think that... I don't know... that she doesn't want to get killed when darkspawn destroy the village, but that's just me," Lenya said, "But what do I know. I'm a Grey Warden and I see darkspawn everywhere... creepy stuff," She was starting to really want to kill Marjolaine. Well, she'd wanted to kill her even before she'd seen her, but now she really wanted to kill her. It was a wonder she'd lived so long when she was so annoying.

Finally she did get Marjolaine to pay attention to her, "Oh, is that what you think? If I were you, I would believe nothing she says. Not a one," She said acidly, "She will use you. You look at her and you see a simple girl- a friend, trusting and warm. It is an act."

"I am not you, Marjolaine," Leliana said defensively, "I left because I didn't want to become you," She added and took a glance at Lenya and she saw in Leliana's eyes that she feared Lenya would believe Marjolaine.

"Oh, but you are me," Marjolaine said and it was clear that she knew exactly what to say to hurt Leliana, "You cannot escape it. No one understand you the way I do, because we are one and the same," She added and Lenya saw doubt cross Leliana's face, "Do you know why you were a master manipulator, Leliana?" Marjolaine asked, but didn't expect an answer, "It is because you enjoyed the game; You reveled in the power it gave you... You cannot change or deny this."

Lenya considered trying to behead Marjolaine, but that was not what she needed to do, what was best for Leliana, "I trust Leliana, no matter what you say," She said instead and gave encouraging look to Leliana.

"Thank you," Leliana said and her whole being reflected how grateful she was, "You will not threaten me or my friends again, Marjolaine. I want you out of my life, forever," She said to Marjolaine then. Lenya rolled her eyes because she knew that tone, Leliana would let the bitch go if she promised to leave her alone.

"No," Lenya said, "She will not leave here alive, not after what she did," She added and looked Leliana.

Leliana took one look at Lenya and sighed, "You've caused too much pain for too many, Marjolaine. It ends here," She said to Marjolaine.

"And you think you can kill me, like that?" Marjolaine said, "I made you, Leliana. I can destroy you just as easily," She added and snapped her fingers and the doors leading to the room opened.

"It's a damn time," Lenya smiled as she drew her swords, "Yes, you may have made Leliana," She said and deflected thrown knife to the wall, "But you definitely did not make me and I am damn sure I can destroy you."

Marjolaine withdrew backwards to let her mercenaries do the job, but Lenya killed the mercenary blocking her path to Marjolaine with a one thrust and then she was free to concentrate on Marjolaine. She heard Leliana's worried plea not to, but she ignored her. This bitch had hurt her Leliana, caused untold pain to her and broken her trust and now Lenya would kill her.

Marjolaine drew weapons and met Lenya's swords with daggers. Marjolaine tried to end the fight short, but Lenya was not some thug who had only just learned which end of the sword hurt, "That's rather insulting," Lenya said, "You didn't actually think it would be that easy?" She added and cut a wound into Marjolaine's thigh. It was barely a scratch since her position was far from ideal, but sometimes these kind of wounds ended the fights because they infuriated your opponent, "Well, look at that, red blood..." She said and dodged Marjolaine's counterstrike, "That is rather surprising, cold hearted bitch like you, you'd think you would bleed ice or something."

"I have your head you elven bitch!" Marjolaine snarled.

"What? No knife-ears?" Lenya asked and then she had to take a step sideways to avoid getting another throwing knife into her eye. Marjolaine used that as an advantage and pressed on her attack. It took Lenya several parries to break and then change the momentum back to her favor, "You should watch out with those or you may poke someone's eye out with them." She was not going to give the initiative back to Marjolaine anymore so she increased her tempo and after only few moments Marjolaine could only barely block the incoming attacks and even though she blocked them the sheer force of the blows allowed more cuts to appear on Marjolaine's arms and legs.

The woman might have been formidable fighter once, but she was not anymore. Too many fancy parties with too much food and easy living. The skills were there, but her body had grown soft. She had relied on her mercenaries, but since Lenya had gone past them without trouble she was now forced to rely on herself... and it was not working.

When one of Marjolaine's blocks went wide Lenya struck her head with the pommel of her sword and pirouetted around until her back was facing Marjolaine and in the middle of the pirouette she flipped her sword around and pointing backwards. Lenya felt her sword pierce the body of the woman that had caused Leliana so much pain.

"This is for hurting, Leliana," Lenya twisted the sword and then pulled it out, "You don't deserve getting your head cut off," She said as Marjolaine fell to her knees and tried to hold her insides with her hands. She would be dead in moments.

"Lel..." Marjolaine started, but Lenya was not about to let her hurt Leliana anymore with her venomous words and she flicked her wrist, slitting the throat of the woman. Marjolaine collapsed to the floor and died.

"Good riddance," Lenya said and then turned to look at Leliana.

"She's really dead..." Leliana said and stared at the body of her old mentor and a lover, "She's dead and its my fault... I... I need some air..." She said and almost ran out of the house.

Lenya wanted nothing more than to follow her, but she knew that Leliana needed to be alone now. She did look at Abelas however and then Abelas followed Leliana out of the house.

"A mage, two more Tal-vasoth and some shems in a fancy armor," Lenya said after she'd taken a look at the mercenaries that had attacked them, "Okay, lets check out the house and see if there's anything valuable. They won't need it any more."

Then she turned to look at the woman she'd killed. A sense of joy went through her as she watched her. That bitch would not threaten her Leliana ever again.

* * *

><p>Leliana did not know where she was going. The city was a blur in her eyes. Her mind was going through what had happen at the house. Marjolaine's words echoed in her mind, <em>"You are me," <em>She was afraid that Marjolaine was right. She'd felt great relief and joy when Lenya had killed Marjolaine.

How could she even trust herself anymore? What if she ended up betraying Lenya, just like Marjolaine had done to her. She had already put them in danger by allowing them to confront Marjolaine.

"Stupid," She muttered then, "If you really think that you allowed Lenya to do that, you are an idiot," She continued aloud. There was nothing she could have done to prevent it. Even if she'd left and went to Marjolaine alone Lenya would have followed. It was not in Lenya's character to abandon her friends.

Quiet bark behind her told her that Abelas agreed with her, "She send you after me?" Leliana asked and turned to face the mabari. Abelas scoffed, like saying that his mistress was worried about her, but also wanted to give her space, "So she send you instead of coming herself?" Leliana asked and Abelas tilted his head and huffed, "Yes, I know she'll come after me soon," How did she understand Abelas was beyond her. She knew Lenya understood him, but they were bonded.

"Am I an evil person?" Leliana asked and Abelas snorted. The mabari could have not been more clear even if he'd managed to just say 'no', "You're too kind," Leliana said and then she sighed. Abelas did not 'say' anything else, but he nudged his head against Leliana's leg. It felt comforting and Leliana started to scratch his ears.

She did not know how long she just stood there and scratched Abelas's ears, but when the mabari's ears shot up and he started to growl she realized that she was alone who knows where in a city at night. That was something extremely dangerous.

"What is it?" She whispered to Abelas who kept growling and staring into the dark. Her hand grasped her dagger.

Then she heard grunts, startled yelps, thuds and then gurgling sound like someone was drowning. Abelas's behavior changed as well. Now his tail wagged happily.

It didn't take long before she heard someone coming closer and then Lenya walked into the light. She looked like she was just taking a walk, but Leliana saw blood spatter on her clothes. Of course those could have come when she'd fought Marjolaine.

"There you are, ma vhenan," Lenya said, "You shouldn't be alone in a place like this."

"I am hardly alone," Leliana said and patted Abelas, "Was there someone out there?" She asked then. She had to know.

"Yes," Lenya replied, "They won't be bothering anyone anymore."

"Did you have to kill them?" Leliana asked sadly.

"No," Lenya said, "But I chose to," She added calmly, "They were planning on killing Abelas and then rape and kill you. That alone was enough to warrant their deaths."

Leliana could not fault Lenya's logic and she probably saved someone else getting raped and killed in the future, but at the moment Leliana had, had more than enough killing.

"Are you alright?" Lenya asked then and came to stand in front of her. Her eyes were glowing slightly and it gave her ageless look.

"Why wouldn't I be," Leliana replied, "They didn't get to me," She added, trying to get levity in her voice.

"Leliana," Lenya said gently and looked her into the eyes, "There was a time when I was in the forest and I was digging graves to my clan and mourning them, when one brave soul came to me and offered comfort, I had not always treated her well and she knew that I might have slashed out on her, but she came anyway. She held me while I cried," Lenya spoke in soft voice and she never let her eyes leave Leliana's, "Like that beautiful soul I am offering you a shoulder to lean on."

"Lenya..." Leliana managed and tears obscured her view. Then she felt strong arms embrace her.

"I'm here," Lenya whispered.

"I'd been in Lothering for years," Leliana started to speak in a quiet voice, her head resting on Lenya's shoulder, "And she still thought I was plotting against her," She was only half aware of the tears that soaked Lenya's shoulder, "She didn't trust me. Maybe she never did," She continued, "She loved me when she could use me and control me, and now that she couldn't, she wanted me dead."

"She can't hurt you anymore, ma vhenan," Lenya said.

"It... it hurts to realize that I never really knew her," Leliana said and she felt like her heart could get crushed, but didn't because Lenya was there, lending her own strength to Leliana.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lenya asked.

"You are already helping so much by listening to me," Leliana said and finally pulled away from Lenya's embrace, "I knew she was ruthless, but I didn't know how far she could go. She was self-serving, cruel... she used people, then discarded them, but that's how she survived in the life she lead," Then she covered her mouth with her hand and gave anguished look to Lenya, "W-what if she's right. What if we're the same?" She lowered her eyes to the ground, "I... I should just have stayed in the chantry."

Lenya gave her a smile, "We would never have met, if you hadn't left," She said.

"You don't understand," Leliana exclaimed, "I forgot my life as a bard while I was in the cloister. I felt safe. I didn't have to watch my back all the time," She tried to explain, but Lenya didn't really understand what she was so afraid of, "That's what made Marjolaine the person she is, don't you see? It ruined her, it will ruin me too," She said and she felt like the anguish just grew within her, "It's already happened. When we killed her I... I enjoyed it. Seeing her dead gave me satisfaction."

"She did you a great injustice," Lenya said and Leliana could see that she didn't agree with her a one bit in this.

"But that is no reason to rejoice over her death. That is what she would do. I don't want that," Leliana sighed, "What we're doing... what we've done- hunted men down, killed them- part of me loves it. It invigorates me and this scares me. I... I feel myself slipping," She tried to avoid Lenya's eyes because she feared that she might see confirmation to her fears in them.

"Leliana," Lenya said and her voice was gentle, "You are a good person. You always will be," She said and lifted Leliana's chin up so their eyes could meet.

"How can you be so sure?" Leliana wanted to know.

"Evil doesn't worry about not being good," Lenya replied simply.

"That... that is true," Leliana smiled a little, "I can always trust you to show me things from a different perspective," She added, "I would like to be alone, for now. I have many things to consider. Thank you, for listening to me."

"You are welcome, ma vhenan," Lenya said and then she turned around, "The things you are worried about, liking the hunt, you are not alone in loving them. I have always loved the hunt, no matter the prey and as for you feeling satisfaction about the death of Marjolaine. You were not alone in that either, but there is a difference. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and I can guarantee that I'd enjoy ending her life," Lenya's voice was calm, but quiet, "So... of the two of us, I am the evil one," Then she turned to look at Abelas, "Stay with her," She ordered and then she was gone.

Leliana stared after Lenya and then she looked at Abelas who just tilted his head and seemed to shrug.

* * *

><p>"Did you find her?" Alistair asked when Lenya returned to the inn. The common room was almost empty because it was so late. All the nobles had crawled back to their fancy homes.<p>

"Of course I found her," Lenya said, "Abelas is with her and I can feel where he is."

"Then why didn't she return with you?" Alistair wanted to know. He also seemed a bit too... animate somehow. Maybe it was all the excitement or worry about Leliana.

"Because she want's to be alone for awhile," Lenya replied, "Abelas will watch over her," She then added.

"You've been fighting?" Alistair asked and nodded towards the blood spatter on Lenya's clothes.

"Some thugs were planning to kill a mabari and rape and kill beautiful red haired human woman," Lenya said, "I told them that it was not wise to do such things."

"You left them alive?" Alistair asked and his voice was incredulous.

"I didn't say that," Lenya smiled and then waved at the barkeep, "You can go sleep now, I'll stay up and wait for Leliana."

"No offence, Lenya, but it is not a good idea for you to sit alone here," Alistair said, "Someone would no doubt send for the guards."

Lenya sighed, "I forgot that," She shook her head and then looked up, "Two pints of honey mead," She said to the barkeep who lifted his brow and looked at Alistair, "Young master is not allowed to drink alone, old masters orders," Lenya added and put coins on the table.

The barkeep looked at the coins and then Alistair who looked indignant, then he took the coins and went to get their drinks.

"I really, really don't like it that you are forced to act like that," Alistair said when the barkeep had brought their drinks and returned behind the counter.

"I really don't like to act like this," Lenya said, "And thank you, Alistair."

"For what?" Alistair asked puzzled.

"For not liking it," Lenya replied and then she grinned, "I would really hate to cut your head off if you'd liked it."

"Well, atleast you would chop my head off," Alistair smiled, "I would hate it if you didn't consider me worthy enough for that."

"If I ever am going to kill you, I will promise to cut your head off," Lenya said.

"How comforting," Alistair chuckled and tasted the pint in front of him, "This is good," He then said and emptied his pint.

"Take it easy," Lenya said, "I won't carry you to your room if you pass out."

"I am a Grey Warden," Alistair snorted, "I can drink anything and walk to my bed after it," He then waved to the barkeep.

"Uh-huh," Lenya just said. She was not going to stop Alistair if he was intent on drinking, but she was not going to join with him. She doubted few drinks could do anything to him anyway. It had required a lot of drinks to make her drunk after all. Taint seemed to negate some of the alcohol.

* * *

><p>When Leliana stepped inside the inn she was greeted with very enthusiastic singing. Very bad singing, but enthusiastic. Then she saw Alistair standing on a table and holding a pint in his hand. Lenya was sitting and watching Alistair. Her face was like a storm as she did so.<p>

"Thank the Maker you are here my Lady," The barkeep said, "Your brother has gone a bit out of control and your elf just says she can't stop him if he wants to drink."

"A bit out of control?" Leliana said and stared heavily drunk and badly singing Alistair.

"Oh boy," Zevran's voice said behind her, "I'm away for a bit and all kind of fun things happen,"

"We need to get him to sleep before he does something even more stupid," Leliana said and tried to see if Lenya was drunk as well, but nothing indicated that.

"Ah, my lady," Lenya said when she approached them, "As you can see the young master have had a bit too many drinks."

"Why didn't you stop him from doing that?" Leliana asked.

"Lelaina!" Alistair bellowed suddenly, "I... have.. I was... *hic*... SINging!" He stepped off from the table or fell as it was, "Uups... oww!" Came muffled sounds from the floor.

"Zevran and Lenya," Leliana said, "Help me carry him to the bed."

It took their combined effort, but they did get Alistair to the bed. He would feel it at the morning though since they couldn't get his armor off.

"Odd that Oghren wasn't with you," Leliana said.

"As far as I understood, he's already passed out," Lenya said, "It's either that or he's left somewhere. When I asked Alistair about it he was already tipsy so it's hard to say."

"Why did you let him drink like that?" Leliana wanted to know.

"I didn't see harm in it if he takes few, but the bugger didn't tell me he'd already drunk some with Oghren before I came and by the time I noticed it, it was too late," Lenya said, "Didn't help at all that I ordered us honey meads and of course there is the damn thing with me being an elf and this damn city thinks I'm lowlies of low and can't knock humans unconscious."

"I see," Leliana said, "I'm sorry that I was away so long," She then said. She knew it was because of her that Lenya was still awake and most likely why Alistair had been as well.

"You have nothing to be sorry of," Lenya said, "Alistair on the other hand will be when I ask Wynne and Morrigan to heal him."

Leliana stared at Lenya and then she started to laugh, "You're horrible."

"I know," Lenya said and then she studied Leliana, "Let's go to sleep," She decided then, "We will have a busy day tomorrow."

"How so?" Leliana asked.

"I got this note before I came after you," Lenya said and handed a piece of paper to Leliana, "And I have a feeling that I need to see the person who sent it."

"It says here that you should come to this very inn," Leliana said, "Why haven't you gone there yet?"

"Alistair is drunk, Oghren is passed out, Wynne is sleeping and I assume so is Morrigan. You were out with Abelas and Zevran was at the Pearl, most likely having sex with everything that moved," Lenya said.

"Point taken," Leliana smiled and then stopped to stare at the bed. Wynne had taken the smaller bed so she and Lenya would need to share the larger one.

"Help me get my armor off," Lenya said and removed her sword holsters from her back and put them next to the bed.

"Of course," Leliana said and went to help.

Peeling Lenya out of her armor took a while and when Leliana was holding her chest armor in her hands she wondered again how Lenya could wear that and still move gracefully like a bard. She shook her head and lowered the armor down with the rest of the pieces.

Then she inhaled sharply as Lenya pulled her under tunic off and stood there with her upper body exposed. Leliana's mind went to the conversation with Isabela. Lenya's body really was to die for. Her firm body rippled when her muscles moved and it curved from just the right places.

"You can open your eyes again," Lenya said and only then Leliana noticed she'd closed them, "I don't mind you looking so you don't have to close your eyes when I don't have clothes on," Lenya added smiling.

"Yes..." Leliana swallowed, "But we are not alone here so... I think it's best I do close them."

"You want to sleep on the bed alone?" Lenya asked, "I can sleep on the couch."

"No..." Leliana said, "You don't have to sleep on the couch," She added, "Just... just don't look so good."

Lenya let out amused chuckle, "It might be easier to sleep on the couch than fulfill that," She said, "I think we are safe in the bed together though... If we just keep in mind that Wynne is sleeping on the other side of the room."

"Trying to sleep," Wynne's voice muttered, "So keep that in mind young ladies."

Leliana covered her mouth with her hand and her body shook from a silent laughter. Lenya joined her and they both were silently laughing as they climbed into the bed.

When they both settled on their own side of the bed and the room started to get quieter Leliana's mind went back to the events of the day and the realization that Marjolaine was dead finally hit her. Tears started to fall, whatever Marjolaine had been in the end, Leliana had loved her once.

She tried to keep her crying silent so she would not disturb Lenya, but when strong arms embraced her and a warm body was pressed against her back she knew she'd failed. Lenya did not say anything, she just held her there.

Leliana did not know how long she cried, but eventually she just fell asleep in the comforting presence of Lenya's body against her own.

* * *

><p>When Lenya woke up the next morning Leliana was still resting in her embrace. Carefully she moved her hands so she would not wake Leliana up and sat up. She turned to look at the still sleeping woman she'd started to love. There was no denying that fact anymore. This beautiful human woman had mended Lenya's shattered heart and then stole it.<p>

Lenya shook her head in disbelief. Her life had really gone upside down since she'd went into that cave with Tamlen, but now, because of Leliana she started to see that not everything that came from that fateful decision was bad.

She leaned down and kissed Leliana's cheek. Leliana muttered in her sleep and smile spread to her lips.

Then Lenya got up and noticed that Wynne was also up already and from the sounds coming from the other room she was reading there.

"Good morning, Lenya," Wynne said when Lenya walked into the other room.

"Morning," Lenya said, "What time is it?" She asked then. She normally relied on the sun or moon to determine what time of the day was, but in the city she couldn't figure it out.

"Two hours after sunrise," Wynne replied.

"Damn," Lenya said, "We need to start working or we are still here when this Howe finds out that his Elite guards have been killed," She added and then muttered again how the Elite guards had been really pathetic.

"I'm sure they were very good against normal enemies," Wynne smiled.

"Like that's any excuse," Lenya snorted, "If you tell your troops they are elite they should be nearly invincible. Those idiots there were barely worth the weapons they owned."

"You do have rather high standards, Lenya, but I understand your point," Wynne said.

"Grey Warden, remember," Lenya said, "High standards are normal to us," She smiled, "Anyway, we need to get ready and conclude our business here as soon as possible and that means that I need you to go get Morrigan and then go see how bad condition Alistair is. Then I need you two to heal him."

"What's wrong with Alistair?" Wynne asked curiously and got up.

"He drank too much last night and if he doesn't have hangover it's a damn miracle," Lenya replied.

"Why do you want me to get Morrigan for this?" Wynne asked then.

"Because that's the worst punishment for him I can think of," Lenya said, "He knew that we have work to do and still he got so drunk that he stood on a table and sang very, very badly."

"Why didn't you stop him?" Wynne asked.

"Why does everyone ask that?" Lenya asked, "We are in a damn city that thinks I'm a damn servant. I can't go stop humans doing anything in here or they call a guards to get me away. If it had been possible I'd clubbed him unconscious and then carried him to bed, but apparently that's grievous assault."

"You could have come and get me," Wynne said.

"And leave him there alone?" Lenya asked, "Drunk as he was I wouldn't have wondered if he'd gone and started to yell that he's a Grey Warden or something equally stupid."

"Okay, I see your point," Wynne said, "I'll go see if Morrigan is awake and then I'll go see how's Alistair."

"Thank you," Lenya said, "I'll wake up Leliana."

"Just make sure you only wake her up," Wynne said and then she actually winked at her, "We don't have time to wait for you two to do anything else."

That was so surprising comment from Wynne that Lenya blushed and when Wynne left the room she was laughing.

Shaking her head for the change of behavior Wynne seemed to have Lenya went back to the other room.

She stopped to watch Leliana again for a bit before she leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Wake up, ma vhenan'ara," Then she kissed her.

Leliana responded to the kiss and her hands grabbed Lenya's shirt and pulled her closer and made Lenya lose her balance. She fell on top of Leliana, but Leliana didn't seem to mind since she just continued to kiss her.

When the kiss finally ended, Lenya had serious troubles with her breathing and with her body. It yearned more, "By the Creators..." Lenya sighed and very reluctantly pulled back, "You have no idea how much I hate to stop this, but we don't have time for that at the moment."

"Then you shouldn't wake me with a kiss when I'm dreaming us... " Leliana started then, but then her mouth snapped shut and she blushed, "Never mind." She mumbled.

"You can tell me about it when we are out of this damned city," Lenya said, "And I really understand what you mean," She said and stood up from the bed, "As for waking you up with a kiss... should I promise never do that again?"

"No!" Leliana exclaimed, "I mean... just make sure you have time when you do it."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lenya chuckled, "I'll go see what food is available and then check on how Alistair is doing."

"I'll be there shortly," Leliana said and stretched herself before she got up from the bed.

"Don't take too long or I might have eaten everything," Lenya grinned and then she left the room.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is chapter 32 finished. Not quite yet out of the Denerim, but probably they are almost done in there.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcomed.**


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Chapter 33 is here. Lenya and the company are still on Denerim and about to go visit Alistair's sister.**

**This chapter contains hints that could be taken as a spoilers for the Dragon Age book The Calling. It really is only a hint and probably goes unnoticed. I don't recommend reading the Author Notes after the chapter though where I talk about it more. You have been warned.**

**I wish to thank everyone who is reading the story the new ones and specially those who have been with it from almost the beginning.**

**Special thanks to Faelan who still after all this time wants to read all the new stuff I write. Without her poking me and asking for more I don't think I could get anything done. Thank you my friend.**

_**A little while ago I started to go through the earlier chapters and did all sorts of error fixing on them (grammar mostly). If someone has for some reason started to read the story again from the beginning you might have noticed that the earliest chapters have been updated. I will continue doing that until I've got the start of the story fixed to match at least the quality of the latest chapters.**_

**That said I didn't have beta on this chapter so I apologize for any errors you might encounter.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and all you don't belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p><strong>Denerim, Gnawed Noble Inn<strong>

Lenya left Wynne and Morrigan to get Alistair in shape when she went to meet the sender of the mysterious note. Alistair would be no help at his current state... unless they needed someone to be vomited on. Oghren was also still sleeping, but he was not really suited for quiet meetings anyway.

When they got to the room door the note mentioned Lenya just knocked. If this was a trap she doubted anyone would try to kill her right there in the hallway.

The door was opened by a rough looking man wearing leather armor. Lenya measured him briefly before she spoke, "I got this note..." She started, but didn't get further than that.

"Master has been waiting for you," The man said and stepped away to let Lenya in.

"They are Crows," Zevran whispered to her when he got in as well.

"A trap?" Lenya asked.

"I don't think so," Zevran said, "This does not feel like one."

"Well... one way to find out," Lenya smiled at him, "Where's your master?" She asked from the man who had let them inside.

"At the back room," The man replied.

"Thank you," Lenya nodded and walked through the room to the backroom, "Ah, you," She said when she saw the man who was standing there, "I see you have expanded your business a bit," They had talked to this man at the markets and bought some things from his wares.

"You here about a note?" The man, Ignacio, asked, "Maybe we have some things we can talk about."

"Just see the conversation stays civil," Zevran interrupted, "If this is a trap..."

Ignacio studied Zevran for a moment, "Zevran, is it?" He asked, "You are Taliesin's responsibility. Other Crows may try to kill you, but in my eyes, you're already dead," He continued, "So you are of no notice," Then he turned to look at Lenya, "But the Warden here, she is of great interest to me."

"But you were hired to kill me," Lenya pointed out. She suddenly wished she'd pried even more information about the Crows from Zevran.

"I can't stress enough that I wasn't hired to do anything," Ignacio said and that made Lenya even more confused, "An associate was, and he's failed-and failed badly," He gave Zevran a contemptuous look.

"I'd like to see you do any better," Zevran just said.

"Do you take me for a fool?" Ignacio exclaimed, "That's a contract I'd never take," He almost snarled and then looked at Lenya, looking a bit embarrassed, "Ahem," He scoffed, "A client can always hire more... help. If the job isn't done the first time," He said then, "But I'm hoping we can make sure that doesn't happen."

Lenya watched Ignacio for a while, but she couldn't detect any deception from him. The Crows were obviously very confusing organization, "Zevran, is that true?"

"I've only heard of the one time the entire House of Crows was hired for a job," Zevran said, "A princely sum changed hands and an entire noble family died. Not one soul survived," He continued.

"That doesn't answer to my question, Zevran," Lenya said.

"It will, gorgeous," Zevran smiled, "Ignacio has the right of it. Generally, it is one master, one job."

Lenya thought about that for a moment. If she'd understood correctly what Ignacio and Zevran meant the Crows that had been hired to kill her were not the same Crows Ignacio was part of. So she would be safe from him... at least for the time being. Question was now if she should listen to him or not.

"Okay," Lenya said finally, "I'm listening."

"Ferelden is a busy place; Blight, civil war, other mayhem. Lots of people not getting along," Ignacio said, "Sometimes they really don't get along. Maybe want to do something about it," He continued, "The people that handle that sort of thing can get real busy."

"Go on," Lenya said, hoping that the man would get to the point already.

"It takes time to do a good job-pride in your work and all-but customers have expectations," Ignacio explained, "Not many people to turn to if you're short-staffed in some lines of work," He continued and Lenya started to think he would never get to the point and she would be forced to kill him just purely out of frustration, "So someone that's crossed our path and lived... well, maybe they could help out. Make some coin. Everyone wins."

"Well, except the ones I end up killing," Lenya said, "They usually don't win much."

"It is impossible to please everyone," Ignacio said.

"So true," Lenya said, "How does this work, then?"

"I hand you a scroll. You read it, you learn about someone interesting," Ignacio said, "If you find out something happens to him, something unfortunate, then if we talk again I give you money for 'letting me know'"

"Well, that's quite a fancy way of putting it," Lenya said.

"You don't like what's on the scroll, don't do anything. Maybe he has an accident and someone else tells me all about it."

"Why all the innuendo?" Lenya asked, "We both know what this is about."

"You can never be too careful," Ignacio said, "Can you blame someone for being circumspect?"

Lenya turned to look at Zevran and Leliana who both shrugged. Neither of them would judge her if she took the scrolls. Wynne and Alistair might be a different story though. If she would do this she would probably need to keep this a secret from them. Not that she cared what Wynne said, but the preaching might get to her nerves. Alistair was too innocent yet for things like these.

"Hand me the scroll," Lenya said finally.

"There you go. Makes for fine reading," Ignacio said and handed Lenya a scroll.

"You're a cautious little weasel, Ignacio; what's your angle? if you're playing us false..." Zevran said while Lenya was reading the scroll.

"My dance is not for you. I need to be real... sometimes," Ignacio said, "And I can say I haven't asked anyone to do anything. I've just given someone something interesting to read."

Zevran let out a little laugh, "And you think that will save your hide when they nail it to the wall?" He asked, amused.

"You're already dead in my eyes, whoreson, take care that I don't 'learn' otherwise," Ignacio said and then turned to look at Lenya.

She had read the scroll and it was hard to keep her expression neutral. The scroll was a contract to those 'Howe's elites' at the Pearl. It was good that she followed her guts and came to this meeting. If the Crows were now hired to kill people who had connections to Howe and Loghain she had no problems with the contracts and if you get paid for doing it... all the better.

"Enjoy the reading?" Ignacio asked then.

"Very much," Lenya said, "But you really shouldn't ask me to kill dead men," She added and Zevran's body started to shake from a silent laughter.

"What?" Ignacio exclaimed, "Y-you already...?" He managed and then pulled himself together, "Ahem. I should have anticipated that. Well done," He added, "You might want to look in the chest behind me. There might be something of interest."

"Thank you," Lenya bowed a little and went to the chest. When she opened it she found a pouch of coins and few more scrolls from it, "Ah, more reading," Lenya said and handed the coin pouch to Leliana before she read the scrolls, "And these ones are even alive."

Ignacio seemed to relax when he heard that at least the people on the new scrolls were still alive, "If that's all, luck be to you," He said.

"I think we can keep ourselves busy with these a bit," Lenya said, "I'll be back when I need more reading," She added and then they left the room.

* * *

><p>"I always figured you for an assassin," Zevran said to Lenya when they got away from the corridor.<p>

"I am not an assassin, Zevran," Lenya said calmly, "I am very practical however and if I fulfill these," She showed the scrolls, "I will be making trouble for Loghain."

Zevran lifted his brows, "If I know Crows and I actually do, there shouldn't be anything that would tell you whose payroll the target is, so how you know it hurts Loghain?"

"Intuition," Lenya replied.

"Someday you really need to explain me how that talent of yours works," Zevran shook his head.

"You are not the only one," Lenya said, "I only know what happen if I don't listen to it," She continued, "But in this case it also makes sense when I think it through. There wouldn't be need for the Crows to approach me unless Ignacio speaks truthfully. They already gave me a job to kill people whose death, if not hurt Loghain, they did hurt Howe," She explained, "And before you are going to tell me that the first job could have been there to lure me to trust them, I already considered it and I don't think that is the case. What would be the point of it?" She asked, but didn't wait for an answer, "No... everything points to the fact that they want us to succeed. Like Ignacio said, killing us, is a job he would never take."

Leliana studied Lenya as she spoke to Zevran and not for the first time she realized that they all kept still underestimating Lenya. Her tendency to solve things with violence tended to mask her intelligence, but very little escaped her. Lenya's ability to read people was as good as Leliana's or Zevran's were.

Before Zevran had time to say anything more to Lenya they were interrupted by a shout, "Dear Maker!" Alistair yelled, "Are you trying to poison me?"

"I would not waste perfectly good poison on you, you fool," Morrigan's voice answered to him, "But unless you want that to be fed to you by force, you will drink that," She threatened then.

"How can you join with her?" Alistair asked from Wynne, "I thought you were nice, but you actually help her."

"Because she is right," Wynne replied calmly, "We need you at your best and if we need to treat you with something foul tasting, then we are going to do that."

"Why are you so mean to me?" Alistair asked and his voice changed to one that Leliana linked to a children who tried to get things happen their way, "Ouch!" Alistair yelped suddenly, "Why did you do that for?"

"When you start acting like a child I will treat you as one," Wynne said, "Now, drink it," She ordered sternly.

"You know," Leliana whispered to Lenya, "Letting them both gang on him like that was really unfair."

"I know," Lenya grinned, "Maybe he remembers that the next time he is about to get wasted."

"If I remember correctly you also have done so," Leliana said.

"That was all your fault," Lenya said, "You obviously used my weakness to your advantage and got me drunk so you could sleep in same bed with me," She said and her eyes were shining from amusement so she was not serious.

"I see you have seen through my cunning plan," Leliana said.

"Besides, when I got wasted we were not in the city filled with less than friendly soldiers," Lenya said.

"True," Leliana smiled, "And you had a bit better reason for getting drunk," She added then.

"I am going to die!" Alistair's voice interrupted them.

"Time to go in," Lenya said and stepped through the door to the room Alistair shared with Zevran and Oghren, "Oh, I doubt you will die, Alistair."

"You!" Alistair said accusingly, "This is your doing. You sent the inquisition here!"

"Of course," Lenya replied, "Maybe you next time will choose a better time for getting wasted after they are through with you," She added then and now her voice had steel in it, "We go find your sister in half an hour. I expect you to be ready and able then," Then she turned in her heels and walked out of the room.

Alistair stared after Lenya and then shiver went through him, "Give me the damn potion," He said.

"I never want to get on the bad side of our gorgeous leader," Zevran said, "She has a mean streak on her."

"If I remember correctly you already were on her bad side," Leliana smiled as they too walked out of the room. Leaving Alistair suffer alone, well alone with Wynne and Morrigan.

"That my dear, Leliana, was just mild disagreement," Zevran said.

"You tried to kill us," Leliana pointed out.

"Well, yes, but that really was not being on Lenya's bad side. I was just on the wrong side of her swords," Zevran said.

"You are a really strange man," Leliana shook her head.

"So I've been told," Zevran smiled.

They joined with Lenya and sat at one of the tables to wait.

* * *

><p><strong>Denerim, Market District<strong>

Half an hour later they were all outside of the inn. Alistair looked pale and he kept giving hurtful looks at Wynne and Morrigan. Both women just ignored him. Leliana felt a bit sorry for him, but only a little. Since Lenya was right and Alistair could have chosen a better time to get drunk.

"Don't you worry, pike twirler," Oghren said to Alistair, "I keep you company," He added and offered a flask at Alistair, "The sodding women will calm down eventually and if they don't... well we can drink to them."

"Dear Maker," Alistair managed and he hurried after Lenya, who was walking ahead of them.

"That was rather mean," Leliana said to Oghren when Alistair was out of hearing range.

"What are you sodding talking?" Oghren asked, "I don't offer drinks to just anyone."

"Well... Ugh... never mind," Leliana said and walked after Alistair. She heard how Oghren muttered something about sodding women.

"I'll promise I will never drink again," Alistair was just saying to Lenya when Leliana catch up with them, "But please, don't make me share my tent with Oghren," He pleaded, but Lenya did not say anything. In fact she seemed not to even listen what Alistair was saying, "I will... I will take your guard shift for three days if you don't do it," Alistair promised, "So you can spent time with Leliana," He added then, trying to be clever.

"Wouldn't that require you to do Leliana's shift as well?" Lenya asked innocently. Alistair had a lot to learn before he would be able to manipulate people. Not looking like mischievous child when trying to do it would be a great first step.

"Oh... damn, didn't think of that," Alistair said, "Okay, two nights and I do double shifts to cover you and Leliana."

"That is mighty generous of you, Alistair," Lenya said, "I do dislike to let you off so easily, but I would really like some alone time with Leliana," She looked resigned.

"Oh, thank you, thank you," Alistair said and then he turned around.

Leliana walked to Lenya, "When did you threaten to make him sleep with Oghren?" She asked.

"I haven't," Lenya said, "He just walked up here and started to plead that he will do anything if I don't make him sleep in the same tent with Oghren. No idea where he got that idea from."

"So, you basically got out of two night guard shift for promising him something you were not going to do anyway," Leliana said incredulously.

"Yep," Lenya said, "Who am I to stop him if he wants to do it and well... did you see how he looked when he tried to be clever?"

"Yes," Leliana said, "It was terrible."

"We need to teach him some subtlety at some point," Lenya said and then turned to look back. When Leliana turned to look she saw that Alistair was returning and he seemed nervous, "What is it, Alistair?"

"That's... my sister's house," Alistair said and pointed at the building close by, "I'm almost sure of it, this is... yes, this is the right address," He said and his voice grew more nervous with each word, "She could be inside. Could we … go and see?"

"Wouldn't you rather meet her on your own?" Lenya asked, sounding surprised.

"Do I seem little nervous?" Alistair asked, but before anyone could reply he continued, "I am. I really don't know what to expect. I'd like you to be there with me, if you're willing," He seemed terrified of the prospect at going alone, "Or we could... leave, I suppose. We really don't have time to pay a visit, do we? Maybe we should go."

Lenya sighed and lifted her hand up to stop Alistair's tirade of words, "You're such a coward!" She exclaimed.

"I am not!" Alistair said defensively, but then he sighed, "All right, maybe I am. I am totally coward. I just... what would I say to her? Does she even know I exist? Will she be happy to see me?" He rambled on and then stopped, "Hmmm. Now I'm babbling. Maybe we should go. Let's go. Let's just... go."

"No," Lenya said and walked to the house door and opened it, "You are meeting your sister now and then you know."

Alistair stared at Lenya and then walked to the opened door, "Bossy!" He muttered at Lenya before he stepped inside.

"We will wait here," Leliana said and Lenya nodded before she followed Alistair inside.

* * *

><p>Lenya did not really pay attention to the house they had entered, but she did kept eye on Alistair. She understood how important this was for him. Family was important to herself as well.<p>

"Er... hello?" Alistair called nervously. Lenya was sure that if she were not there he would have ran out of the door and probably would not have stopped until he hit the wall surrounding the city.

A woman walked in view from the other room and she gave Lenya only a minor glance before she turned to talk to Alistair. Lenya reminded herself that they were still inside the stupid Shem city and that this was perhaps Alistair's sister so cutting her head off was not prudent. One thing was clear though; She didn't like this woman.

"Eh?" The woman said to Alistair and measured him from head to toes, "You have linens to wash? I charge three bits on the bundle, you won't find better," She continued before they had time to say anything, "And don't trust what that Natalia woman tells you either, she's foreign and she'll rob you blind."

Lenya studied the woman and didn't see anything familiar in the woman's features. Alistair really must have taken all his features from his father or they were in the wrong house. She kept her observation to herself though. Alistair was already nervous wreck and it would not do him any good if she would mention that this might not be his half sister at all.

"I'm... not here to have any wash done. My name is Alistair," Alistair said and then he shifted his feet nervously, "I'm... well, this may sound sort of strange, but are you Goldanna? If so, I suppose I'm your brother," Alistair blurted the sentence out like it was burning his mouth.

"Very subtle, Alistair," Lenya smiled at him.

"My what?" The woman asked incredulously and she watched Alistair like he was crazy. Lenya did not blame her, "I am Goldanna, yes... how do you know my name? What kind of tomfoolery are you folk up to?"

Lenya studied Goldanna and then turned to look at Alistair, "Are you sure your information was correct, Alistair?" She asked.

"Yes, I... I think so. I'm sure of it, in fact," Alistair replied and then turned to talk to Goldanna, "Look, our mother... she worked as a servant in Redcliffe Castle a long time ago, before she died. Do you know about that? She-" Alistair explained, but then she was interrupted by Goldanna.

"You!" Goldanna exclaimed and there wasn't a shred of happiness in her, "I knew it! They told me you was dead! They told me the babe was dead along with mother, but I knew they was lying!" She ranted.

"They told you I was dead?" Alistair asked confused, "Who? Who told you that?" He insisted.

"Them's at the castle!" Goldanna shrieked, "I told them the babe was king's, and they said he was dead. Gave me a coin to shut my mouth and sent me on my way! I knew it!"

"I'm sorry, I... didn't know that. The babe didn't die. I'm him; I'm... your brother," Alistair said.

"For all the good it does me!" Goldanna scoffed and her whole being radiated contempt, "You killed mother, you did, and I've had to scrape by all this time? That coin didn't last long, and when I went back they ran me off!"

Lenya felt sorry for Alistair. This was not how your family should treat you, "You don't blame a child if his mother dies in childbirth," Lenya said coldly.

"And who in the Maker's name are you?" Goldanna asked and the look she gave to Lenya made her want to slap her, "Some elf to follow him about and carry his riches for him?"

"Hey!" Alistair said angrily, "Don't talk to her that way! She's my friend, and a Grey Warden! Just like me!" He added.

"Ooohh, I see. A prince and a Grey Warden, too. Well, who am I to think poorly of someone so high and mighty compared to me," Goldanna snorted at Alistair and her voice oozed contempt.

"Even a damn rock would be high and mighty compared to you," Lenya muttered under her breath.

"I don't know you, boy. Your royal father forced himself on my mother and took her away from me, and what do I got to show for it?" Goldanna continued without even looking at Lenya, "Nothing! They tricked me good! I should have told everyone!" She continued angrily, "I have five mouths to feed, and unless you can help with that, I got less than no use for you."

Alistair looked like someone had struck him, "I... I'm sorry, I... I don't know what to say..." He started, but Lenya had heard enough.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Alistair," Lenya said, "This piece of self centered darkspawn fodder doesn't deserve a brother," She nodded towards Goldanna.

"That so? Well he isn't any brother I didn't have before he walked through that door. Unless he can make himself useful, he can just walk back on out of it, can't he?" Goldanna said and looked at Alistair challengingly.

Lenya stared at the woman and tried to calm herself. She turned to talk to Alistair because if she now opened her mouth to Goldanna and the stupid bitch said something she might do something they all regretted. Well, not Goldanna since she would be headless, "It looks like all she wants is your money," Lenya said to Alistair. Not that Alistair even had any money.

"Yes, it really seems that way, doesn't it?" Alistair said and his voice was had this terrible sadness in it, "I wasn't expecting my sister to be... I'm starting to wonder why I came," He continued and the look he gave to Lenya showed that same sadness his voice was filled with.

"I don't know why you came, either, or what you expected to find. But it isn't here! Now get out of my house, the both of you!" Goldanna interrupted them and that was a mistake.

Lenya stepped in front of the woman and her eyes were blazing now, "You want help do you?" She asked and the woman took a step backwards. Finally starting to figure out that Lenya was not an ordinary elf, "Here," Lenya said and took a gold coin from her pouch and dropped it on the floor, "Use that and tie your damn legs together so you don't get any more damn mouths to feed. Something you should have considered before you opened them for the first time," She took another gold coin and dropped it after the first one, "That you can use to tie that damn mouth shut, because by the Creators, the way you jab that maw, I don't understand why someone hasn't cut your head off before now," Goldanna was trembling in fear now, but her eyes followed the coins as they rolled on the floor, "You disgust me, Shem, I should just cut your head off and display it in front of your house."

"No!" Alistair exclaimed, "Just... leave her alone," He pleaded, "It's her house after all. Let's just go."

"You're lucky," Lenya said and turned around, "If it were up to me I'd cut your tongue out," She added and then she walked out.

When they stepped outside Lenya walked away from the house without saying a word to Leliana who waited just outside. She had to get some distance between herself and the house. She did not trust herself at the moment.

"I assume it didn't go well?" Leliana asked when Lenya finally stopped.

"I'll tell you later," Lenya said and then turned to look at Alistair, "How are you?" She asked then.

"Well that was... not what I expected. To put it lightly," Alistair shook his head in disbelief, "This is the family I've been wondering about all my life?" He asked, "That shrew is my sister? I can't believe it," He added and continued to shake his head. Like he was trying to get the disappointment out of it, "I... I guess I was expecting her to accept me without question. Isn't that what family is supposed to do?" He asked, but before Lenya had time to reply he went on, "I... I feel like a complete idiot."

"Alistair, you are not an idiot," Lenya said, "Expecting your family to accept you without a question might be little optimistic, but that bitch there... only way anyone could get acceptance from that one would be if you'd be made out of gold and even then she would complain that it was too little. She is self centered bastard and you are better off without her," She said in comforting tone, but then she changed it to more serious, "But, Alistair, you really need to learn to stand up for yourself. You can't let just about everyone walk over you like you were nothing. Forget the crap the Chantry fed you in your templar training and by the Creators grow a pair."

Alistair's expression was odd mix of gratefulness and anger. Lenya knew that she was harsh, but she couldn't hold back anymore. Alistair had to learn to stand on his own.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. I should," Alistair said slowly, "Let's just go. I don't want to talk about this any more," He added and then left to walk towards the inn.

"Was that necessary?" Leliana asked when Alistair was far enough that he couldn't hear them.

"Yes," Lenya said, "If I hadn't been there with him, he would have rolled over and probably left all his money to that bitch who may or may not be his half sister," She shook her head tiredly, "He can't stay like that, lethallan," She said, "He can't expect me to be there every time he faces difficult things."

"I... I understand," Leliana said.

"You can lie better than that, lethallan," Lenya smiled, "You think I should have waited a while because he already was hurt by his sister."

"Well..." Leliana started and then she gave her an apologetic smile.

"I know," Lenya smiled, "We better follow him," She then said.

* * *

><p>Alistair's head was in a chaos at the moment. He wished he could go to the inn and drink until he passed out, but Lenya would probably make Morrigan and Wynne to pull the alcohol out of his body by magic if he would do it again.<p>

It hurt to realize that the family he'd always wanted would never happen. Not with that... bitch. Lenya was right about that. Goldanna would only accept him if he would carry loads of gold to her and even then it would be only as long as the money lasted.

Lenya's words were also one reason why he was confused. On the other hand she had comforted him, but right after that she had lectured him and pretty much told him to grow up. He turned to look back and saw that Lenya and the others were following him.

He was a bit annoyed about that. He didn't need to be babysat. He was a grown man and a Grey Warden. One part of him gave a mental kick at him - That's the point, you are a Grey Warden in a city where you are outlawed. A very good reason to stick together.

Lenya went after Leliana alone - other part of him seemed to say - Yes, but she's... well, Lenya.

"Damn," He muttered and stopped. He was a such a wimp. He couldn't even stand up to his own thoughts. Lenya was right, he had to start standing up for him.

"Ah, decided to wait us after all," Lenya said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Alistair said.

"Fine by me," Lenya said, "We need to..." She started, but was interrupted by a man who stood near, "I recognize you... from Ostagar!" the man said and Lenya turned to look at him. He was wearing a full plate armor and a sword and a shield, "Andraste's blood, you are a Grey Warden! Duncan's apprentice," He continued and then his expression turned angry, "You killed my friend- and good King Cailan! I demand satisfaction, Ser!"

"If you want to find out the reason for your friends death you might want to go and find Loghain," Lenya said, "The stupid bastard left everyone to die there."

"You would add a slander to your treason as well? You **dare** smear Teyrn Loghain's word?" The man said and his face turned so red from anger that Lenya was surprised that there was no steam rising above his head, "I demand satisfaction!"

"And what the hell does that mean?" Lenya asked, "I don't speak a bloody Shem noble language."

"An uncommon traitor deserves no common death," The man said, "We will meet on the field of honor, and my blade shall see justice done."

"Okay," Lenya shrugged, "If you want to die then who am I to stop you."

"Meet me in the back alley behind the Gnawed Noble Tavern with your second. There we will duel!" The man said, "Make peace with the Maker, ser. These are your last moments," He added and then he turned around and left.

"Hey!" Lenya yelled after him, but he didn't seem to hear or didn't want to, "What the hell is a second?" She asked from Alistair.

"A person who makes sure the duel is honorable and just," Alistair said.

"I see," Lenya said, "What happens when I kill him?"

"When the duel is to the death, nothing," Leliana said, "If the kill is honorable and the rules have been met, that is."

"Rules?" Lenya looked at the pair questioningly.

"You can't use dishonorable ways in the fight," Leliana said, "Like poisons, throwing dirt to the eyes or kicks to the groins."

"Ah, nothing to worry about then," Lenya said, "I never use poisons and throwing dirt is... so amateurish and if I kick a fully armored man into the groins I'm a damned idiot."

"Nice to see that you are taking a duel to the death so lightly," Wynne said.

"Little danger keeps life interesting," Lenya shrugged, "We better go to my duel right away. We need to leave the city very soon."

"Why?" Alistair asked confused.

"Because Loghain is offering a damn huge reward for anyone who has information about us and if your bitch of an sister don't know it yet she will soon enough and she will run to the Loghain or Howe with her information in hopes she get some money out of it. And you told her that we are Grey Wardens," Lenya said, "And you didn't want me to cut her head off so we need to leave the city and fast."

Alistair was about to argue, but then he sighed, "You're right... I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault that Goldanna is money loving bitch," Lenya said, "Let's go so I can get this duel finished."

"Nice to see your confidence hasn't suffered from the city air," Alistair said and shook his head in disbelief. It was inspiring to watch Lenya.

"I have inhaled nasty things in this cesspit, but so far it hasn't killed me," Lenya said, "Probably because the taint kills every other disease I might get."

"Only you can make darkspawn taint seem like a good thing, mon coeur," Leliana smiled.

Lenya gave Leliana a smile and then she lead them towards the back alley.

* * *

><p>When they got to the back alley the knight was already waiting there. He had two men with him, but they were not armed.<p>

"Are you ready?" The knight asked, "I am no savage. I would not take advantage of you."

"I'm ready," Lenya said, "Let us fight one on one."

"May the divine look after you, ser," The knight said and unsheathed his sword and strapped his shield on his arm, "You've held yourself with honor," He said then and did small swings with his sword. Lenya saw that he was not a beginner. He was waiting for Lenya to draw her weapons.

The knights eyes widened a bit when Lenya drew her swords. That made Lenya give a mental head shake to the man. He just gave away that he really hadn't expected Lenya to even know how to handle her swords.

"Begin!" The knight said then and advanced.

The man tried to end the fight fast and came towards Lenya with his shield first and hoping to knock her off balance. Lenya sidestepped left and tried to hit the man's sword arm. He managed to block it, but only barely. He took a step backwards and studied Lenya more carefully now.

Lenya, who had fought many practice fights with Alistair knew exactly how to fight against opponent with a shield. Now she would need to find out if this man knew how to fight against opponent armed with two swords.

Lenya did few attacks to test her opponent. From the skill he showed on blocking Lenya's strikes It was clear that the man was seasoned warrior, but also that he was not adept at fighting against someone with two weapons. He tried to end the fight with brute force by using his shield as a bludgeoning tool.

After they had changed blows for a while Lenya changed her approach to see if the man might try to trick her into believing he was not skilled even though he was. Lenya increased her tempo and when the knights shield was out of place she made an attack that looked more dangerous than it was. If the man would block it with his shield he had no idea what Lenya was actually doing.

The shield came up and deflected Lenya's sword away and seemingly opened her to counterstrike. The knight let out a satisfied sound and went in for the kill.

Lenya let her deflected sword continue on its path and did small side step to move her balance to another foot and brought her another sword into play and took step closer to the man. Her move made the man's sword go harmlessly past her head and her own sword go through the chest of the man.

Lenya saw the man's eyes go wide from surprise and then they dimmed when his life ebbed away. Then Lenya stepped back and her sword slid free of the man and he slowly collapsed to the ground.

"The honor has been met," One of the knights followers said and then they just left.

"What just happen?" Lenya asked confused, "I mean I can bloody hell understand them saying that the honor has been met, but why in the name of the Creators they left him lying in here?" She wiped her sword clean of the blood and then sheathed it, "If they are expecting me to do something to it... they are idiots."

"Perhaps they went to get help on carrying his body away," Alistair suggested.

"If that's so then we better leave and fast," Lenya said, "I really don't want to explain to anyone how an lowly elf killed a big bad powerful Shem knight."

"Probably wise," Leliana smiled.

"Let's go," Lenya said and they left the alley, leaving the body lying where it had fallen.

* * *

><p>After they got into the tavern they packed their stuff quickly. Not that they had much to pack since they pretty much carried everything with them when they moved. Neither of them had trusted the rooms at the tavern to be safe.<p>

"Considering of taking one last bath?" Leliana asked from Lenya when she noticed her watching the bathtub.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "It would nice, but no, we don't have time for that."

"We'll find new baths, I'm sure of it," Leliana promised.

"Ah, quest for the bath!" Lenya turned around and smiled at her, "It will be truly a quest worthy of the epic song, right?"

"Absolutely," Leliana smiled and then looked around the room, "So, we are ready to leave then?"

"If Wynne is ready then, yes," Lenya nodded.

"She left already and went to see how Alistair is doing," Leliana said.

"Alright then," Lenya said, "Let's go."

* * *

><p>When they got to the gates leading out of the market district they saw Sergeant Kylon standing there.<p>

"Leaving the city?" Kylon asked.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "I think we have stretched our luck enough. I don't want to get into a position where I would need to kill guards in order to leave the city."

"I appreciate that, Warden," Kylon said

"I thought you might," Lenya smiled.

"The market district is a whole sight better because of what you've done for us," Kylon said and then handed a coin pouch to Lenya, "I know this may not be much, but it's an extra thanks."

"Thank you," Lenya nodded and took the pouch.

"A lot of folk swallow whatever lies are fed to them, but us believers will try and spread word about you and the Wardens," Kylon said then.

Lenya stared at the man for a moment and then she crossed her hands over her chest and bowed, "Thank you, sergeant,"

"No, Warden," Kylon said, "Thank you and stay safe," He added and returned the bow. Then he turned around and left.

"Remarkable man," Wynne said and Lenya nodded in agreement.

"We better go," Lenya said then, "I doubt all the guards are like him," She added and then turned to look at Alistair, "Lead on."

"What?" Alistair seemed confused, but then he recovered, "Oh, yes, I am the leader in here," He muttered and Lenya rolled her eyes, "Follow me," Alistair said then and started to lead them away from the city.

Lenya went to walk beside Leliana and Zevran did same for Alistair.

* * *

><p>When they approached the city gates Alistair felt the nervousness settle in his stomach again. He didn't like it that he was responsible of them getting out of the city without trouble.<p>

"Young master," The guard at the gate said, "Mistress," He nodded towards Leliana, "Did you enjoy your stay?"

"I can't say I did," Alistair sighed, "Do you know how horrible it is to circle the shops whole day?" He asked and shivered.

"I didn't ask you to follow me around like a puppy, brother," Leliana said, "Lenya would have been enough protection for me, you big oaf," She added and snorted, "And if you go whine mom and da about my shopping, I will tell them how you got so drunk that you sang on the table."

"You wouldn't...?" Alistair shivered again, "Okay... not going to mention anything," He added and gave the guard a look that told, 'see what I have to put up with'. The guard grinned at him.

"I wish you a safe journey," The guard said, "There is a lot more bandits about because of all these troubles," He warned, but Alistair understood that he didn't give a damn if they got ripped to pieces after they were out of his sight.

"Thank you, my good man, but I think we can handle few bandits," Alistair said.

"I'm sure you will," The guard said.

After that they walked out of the city and only after the gates were out of sight he sighed in relief.

"We are not safe yet," Lenya said and came to walk beside him, "We need to return to the camp and start moving away from the city as fast as we can."

"I know, but at least we didn't have to kill the guards at the gates," Alistair nodded.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "I am happy about that as well. Even though most of them are not like Kylon it would have not served our position well if we'd killed a lot of guards while trying to leave the city."

Alistair nodded and then smiled, "Okay, we are officially out of the city, so lead on," He said.

"You have been waiting to do that for how long?" Lenya smiled.

"Since we went inside the city," Alistair smiled.

"You are impossible, my friend," Lenya shook her head and took the lead of their group back.

"I know," Alistair agreed and followed Lenya towards their camp.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's it for the chapter 33 and finally they got out of the city.**

**This chapter was more about Alistair than Lenya. It is time for him to grow up a little faster. :)**

**Reason why I made Lenya doubt that Goldanna is Alistair's half sister comes from the Dragon Age book The Calling. There may be spoilers for that book and maybe for the Stole Throne book on later chapters. I try to remember to mention them on the notes when they appear.  
><strong>

**The Crows kind of just wrote themselves in the story. At first I planned on skipping them completely, but then Alistair got drunk and the Crows found their way in. Sneaky buggers. :)**

**I also wanted to add the odd knight who accuses you of killing Cailan and then challenges you for a duel. Poor stupid idiot. He was a nice way to end the Denerim visit. :)**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcomed and constructive feedback is encouraged.**


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: Chapter 34 is here and we finally go out of the Denerim and the party is finally traveling again.**

**Thanks to all who have read this far. Special thanks to those who reviewed.**

**Very special thanks to Faelan for continued support and encouragement. Big hugs to you my dear friend.**

**I had no beta on this chapter so I apologize for the errors you may encounter. Feedback on them is appreciated.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize is property of Bioware. Anything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p><strong>On a road to the Lake Calenhad<strong>

After they had reached their camp outside the city, Lenya had made them pack everything and be on the move within an hour. While they packed Lenya briefed Shale and Sten on what they had found out in the city and listened what they had to say. Which was not much apparently. To Shale's disappointment no one had tried to come to the camp.

Now Lenya was walking in front of their group and she was keeping up a pace that made everyone else except Shale and Sten mutter complaints. No one dared to mutter them to Lenya though. She was after all walking just like everyone else and she did not complain.

"If she keeps this pace up for much longer we will start to collapse from exhaustion," Alistair said to Leliana after four days had passed since they left Denerim. Each night when Lenya had finally let them rest they all pretty much collapsed into their tents.

"Tell her that," Leliana said and tried to take as much as possible out of the break Lenya was granting them. No one wanted to be the one who told Lenya that they couldn't keep up with her.

"Would you do that?" Alistair pleaded.

"No," Leliana shook her head.

"She's going to kill us," Alistair muttered.

Leliana did not say anything, but she was starting to be ready to go and knock Lenya unconscious and keep her that way for few days.

* * *

><p>Lenya stood on a huge rock and watched the land ahead of them. She knew that she was making the others work on the edge of what they could endure. Even Alistair had started to complain now.<p>

"Soft squishy things are complaining again," Shale said and walked to stand beside the rock Lenya was standing on.

"I know," Lenya said and turned to look at her companions. Everyone of them was pretty much sitting where they had been when she'd called for the break. There had been no signs of pursuit so perhaps it would be safe to stop earlier, "Morrigan!" Lenya called and a crow landed on the close by tree. A golden eyed crow, "I want you to check if there's a less visible place to set a camp."

The crow croaked once and then flew away.

"If the witch tries to come closer to me while in that demonic form I will squish it," Shale said and a shiver seemed to go through her.

"I'll tell her that," Lenya smiled, "Not that it does any good, but I'll tell her that," She added and then jumped down from the rock. As they walked towards their companions Lenya heard Shale mutter about how evil birds were.

"The break can't be over yet," Alistair said when he saw Lenya coming closer, "We just stopped."

"Break is not over yet," Lenya said and studied all her companions. They were all looking exhausted, "In fact, if Morrigan finds us a place to set up camp, we will stop earlier today."

"Thank the Maker," Alistair said and Lenya saw others look relieved as well.

"Don't start resting just yet," Lenya said, "We still need to walk to the campsite if Morrigan finds one," She added and Alistair let out a resigned sigh.

Maybe she had pushed them a bit too hard, but better to do that than get trampled down with an army of Loghain's thugs.

Croak from the sky made Lenya look up and then a crow landed beside Lenya and started to change to Morrigan.

"Did you find anything?" Lenya asked.

"There is a small lake near and a small clearing near it," Morrigan said, "It is not near the road so its not been used as a campsite very often."

"Okay, lead the way then," Lenya said and Morrigan changed into a crow again, "Follow the bird," She said and started to walk after the crow.

"You don't follow bird, you squish them," Shale crumbled unhappily.

"You can crush and squish every other bird, but this one I want you to leave alone," Lenya smiled.

"Unnatural," Shale said and Lenya started to laugh.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later they arrived at the clearing Morrigan had spoken of and as the campsites went it was perfect. The small lake nearby seemed to invite Leliana and she nearly had to resist the urge to just take her armor and clothes off and dive into its waters.<p>

"I'll take the first watch with Shale and Abelas," Lenya said and that made Leliana feel somewhat guilty. Lenya had not rested anymore than she had, but she was doing the guard shift because she knew the others were tired. Her choice for others to watch with her made it clear. A golem who didn't tire and a mabari who most likely was not even tired at all.

"Makes you feel a bit guilty doesn't it," Zevran said and yawned, "I wonder how she is not as tired as we are?"

"She gained strength from the Fade and she drank a potion that enhanced her Warden abilities," Alistair replied, "She could probably continue this pace for four more days and probably even longer."

"I'll go see how Wynne is doing," Leliana said and walked towards the place where Wynne was sitting. The old mage had a piece of cloth in her hand and a needle and a thread in other.

"Ah, Leliana," Wynne smiled, she looked alright, but there was tiredness in her eyes, "Sit down and keep company to this old woman."

"Are you alright?" Leliana asked and sat down, "Lenya has been keeping a hard pace."

"I am a little tired, but I am not that easily broken," Wynne said, "It is understandable that she pushed us hard," She added, "We have no way of knowing if anyone in Denerim knows we were there and how hard they will pursue us when they do get to know that. Skilled tracker could follow us easily even after the trail is days old, you know that."

"Yes," Leliana nodded, "I guess that is the reason why no one wanted to go and tell Lenya that we are starting to be too tired to move."

"And no one wanted to be the first one to admit that he or she can't keep up with Lenya," Wynne smiled, "I guess all of us have a bit too much pride in us," She said, "Even in this old woman."

Leliana smiled at Wynne and then asked, "What are you doing?"

"Alistair asked me to mend the hole in his shirt," Wynne said, "And he claims that if he does it himself he gets the fabric in knots and it doesn't sit well anymore," She explained.

"Or he is just lazy," Leliana said.

"Yes, there is that too," Wynne nodded, "I don't mind though, I like doing needle work. It gives fingers something to do and lets your mind wander freely."

"I've never thought it just like that," Leliana said.

"It is not for everyone," Wynne said, "I am sure you have your own way to let your mind wander freely," She smiled, "Take Lenya for example. Every morning she does her 'dance with the swords' like Alistair calls it. She is completely at peace with herself then. Only accompanied by her thoughts."

"It is also very beautiful to watch," Leliana muttered and blushed. She was not the only one who watched Lenya when she practiced with her swords. Like Alistair said, it was like watching dancing. Very graceful and sensual dancing. At one time Leliana had imagined Lenya naked when she did her dance and Leliana had forgot to breath and only noticed it when spots started to appear in her vision.

"Yes it is," Wynne nodded, "She is very skilled with her swords. Perhaps the most skilled swordsman I've ever seen and will ever see."

"How is it that you've even seen any swordsmen?" Leliana asked, "I mean you have lived in the Circle tower for almost all your life."

"Yes, that is true, but I am also a very skilled healer so I have seen my share of battles because of that;" Wynne replied.

"Oh," Leliana blushed, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Wynne smiled and then looked over the campfire, "Zevran is cooking?" She asked curiously.

"He is?" Leliana asked and looked at the campfire and sure enough, Zevran was doing the cooking, "Well, that settles it then. Today I am going to wait until Zevran has tasted the food first."

"You think he would try to poison us?" Wynne asked.

"Well... no, not really," Leliana said, "He wouldn't do that to Lenya. She is his friend. As odd as that might sound, considering that he was hired to kill Lenya I don't think he would hurt her... not anymore."

"She has that effect on people," Wynne said, "She is a leader. And very charismatic leader at that. You only have to look around to witness it and the way she gathers allies from races other than her own," Wynne shook her head in disbelief, "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like her."

"None of us have," Leliana said, "She's suffered so much to become what she is," She said quietly.

"She may need to suffer more," Wynne said and her voice was sad.

"I know, but she will do what needs to be done no matter what," Leliana said, "That's one reason I love her."

Wynne didn't say anything after that and they just sat there and watched how Zevran made food. He drove Alistair away by hitting him head with the scoop when he came and tried to get food before it was ready.

* * *

><p>Four hours later Lenya returned to the camp. Zevran and Alistair had chosen the next guard shift. Shale had told that she could do more than one shift because she liked the quiet. Lenya had sent Oghren back and told him that he would take the next shift with Sten. Lenya would take the late shift after them with Leliana and Morrigan. Even though Shale did not require sleep she didn't want to keep her on guard all the time. It wouldn't be fair even if Shale would agree to do it.<p>

After Lenya had set the guard shifts she went to the fire and studied what was for food. The food that had been set aside looked like nothing Lenya had ever seen. Either Wynne, Morrigan or Leliana had decided to make different kind of food or someone else had done it. She prayed for the Creators it wasn't Alistair because if that was the case she would rather eat her boots.

"Zevran made it," Leliana said behind her.

"Zevran?" Lenya asked and sighed in relief.

"Yes, before anyone had time to start making the food he was already making it," Leliana said.

"Thank the Creators, I feared that Alistair had made this," Lenya said and took one of the kettles with her. There was usually one kettle for her and one for Alistair and two more for the rest of the group.

"No," Leliana shook her head, "No one wants to let him near unprepared food."

"Keep me company while I eat?" Lenya asked and sat at the log someone had brought around the fire. Without waiting what Leliana replied she started to eat.

"Of course," Leliana said and sat beside her, "It still amazes me how much you eat," She said after she had watched Lenya's eating for a moment.

"It still amazes me that I am not a damn balloon because of how much I eat," Lenya said between mouthfuls and then she chuckled, "I guess Alistair was right when he said, 'It's a good thing that she gets a lots of exercise'."

"He sure knows how to talk to women," Leliana shook her head.

"Aye," Lenya smiled and then turned to look at Leliana, "How are you, ma vhenan?" She asked.

"Tired," Leliana replied, "You've been pushing us really hard."

"Sorry about that, but that is not what I asked," Lenya said, "You have been very silent for these past few days and I know something is bothering you."

"Lenya..." Leliana started, but then she shook her head, "You remember our discussion?" She asked then.

"I remember every word you've said since I met you in Lothering, ma vhenan," Lenya said and that made Leliana lift her eyes on Lenya's. Lenya saw disbelief in her eyes and she did not blame her for that. But the truth was that if she closed her eyes she could bring in her mind everything she'd heard Leliana say. She'd been able to do this ever since the Beyond where she'd released Leliana from the demons hold with the things she remembered hearing Leliana say concerning her stay in the chantry.

"Every word?" Leliana asked and licked her lips. She was obviously trying to remember if she'd said something she hoped Lenya had not heard or that she'd forget she'd heard her say.

"Every word I've heard," Lenya nodded, "Which discussion you meant?" She asked then.

"What?" Leliana asked, confused.

"You asked if I remembered our discussion," Lenya said, "Which one you meant?"

"Ah," Leliana shook her head, "The one we had in the city after we killed Marjolaine."

"Yes, I remember," Lenya said.

"I just wanted to tell you that I thought about what you told me and... you were right," Leliana said, "Despite what Marjolaine said, I am not like her," She added and smiled at Lenya, "I've found peace in knowing the Maker and nothing will change that," Leliana said. Lenya might not care much about the Maker, but Leliana's belief in him was what made her who she was. Like Lenya's own belief in the Creators made her who she was. And who knew, perhaps they were the same thing.

"I am happy for you," Lenya said and she fully meant it.

"Thank you," Leliana smiled, "I followed you to make the world a better place and as long as I keep that in mind, I will not fail," She said, "Sometimes it takes another to show us the truths we hide from ourselves," She lifted her hand and stroked Lenya's cheeks gently.

"So... do I get reward?" Lenya asked, smiling.

Leliana returned her smile, "Maybe..." She said and leaned forward until their noses touched. Then she brushed her lips against Lenya's lips, ever so slightly, making her heart skip a beat, "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" She finished and pulled away.

"Evil woman," Lenya muttered and Leliana let out a little chuckle.

* * *

><p>Morrigan followed from her own fire how Lenya talked with the chantry girl and snorted. The way Lenya weakened herself by engaging in frivolous relationship with Leliana made no sense for Morrigan. She might be able to use that to her advantage though, when the time came to talk about the ritual.<p>

Even though... Morrigan had started to have doubts of that lately. Lenya did not show any signs of weakening resolve. She was still the way she'd been when Morrigan had seen her the first time. A little less angry at the humans, but still the same. If she tried to use Leliana while trying to persuade her to agree on the ritual it might even backfire. Lenya did not take attempts of manipulation well and she seemed to have very keen senses of noticing those attempts.

Morrigan lowered her eyes to the grimoire Lenya had given to her. She ran her hand on its surface, trailing the shape of the dead tree in it with her fingers. So many secrets was hidden in that book. And so many things rested on Lenya, that she would be able to stop the Blight.

To Morrigan herself the most important secret the book revealed concerned herself very directly. She had always had suspicions of how Flemeth extended her life, but it still stung to learn that her only purpose was to be a next vessel for Flemeth.

Flemeth might have even done the transfer already if not for the Blight. A Blight that had brought up a new possibilities for Flemeth. Chance to capture an old soul. Although knowing Flemeth she probably had planned the whole thing up to the letter. Sometimes Morrigan stared at the grimoire and couldn't shake the feeling that even that was part of Flemeth's plan. You could get really paranoid while dealing with Flemeth.

She looked up from the grimoire and found out that Lenya was now eating alone. She would probably come to talk to her after she'd eaten. She usually did so with everyone and in spite of herself Morrigan had talked about herself to Lenya and even enjoyed it. No matter how hard she'd tried not to care.

Talking with Lenya was a lot more enjoyable than talking with anyone else in their group. For one she never hesitated to tell if she disagreed, but unlike the old harpy who was adamant that she was right, Lenya respected Morrigan's opinion even if she did not always agree with it.

Morrigan saw Lenya standing up and starting to walk towards her so she lowered her eyes on the grimoire and waited.

"Morrigan," Lenya said and sat down on the other side of the fire.

"Lenya," Morrigan said and lifted her eyes from the book again.

"Shale promised to squish you if you go near her while you are a bird," Lenya said.

"She can certainly try," Morrigan shrugged and then decided to go on with her news, "I have been studying Mother's grimoire," She said, "Do you wish to hear what I have found?"

"Of course," Lenya said, "What did you find?"

"'Tis... not what I expected," Morrigan admitted, "I had hoped for a collection of her spells, a map of the power that she commands. But this is not it," She continued and tried not to think too much of what the tome did say.

"Yet you look disturbed," Lenya said. She was perceptive as usual. That was one thing others seemed to always forget. Morrigan had watched Lenya all this time and she knew that, even though she might seem uninterested of things, not much escaped her.

"Disturbed?" Morrigan said like she was tasting the word. She would need to tread carefully or Lenya would see through her and it was too soon for that. Luckily she was really disturbed about the findings so that was genuine, "Yes, perhaps that is the right word. One thing particular within her writings disturbs me," She continued and then touched the grimoire, "Here, in great detail, Flemeth explains the means by which she has survived for centuries."

"Let me guess..." Lenya said and seemed to consider what to say, "She drinks blood? Eats children?" Those were the most popular stories of the Asha'bellanar the Dalish mothers told to their children.

"That is closer to the truth than you might think," Morrigan said and let a shiver run through her. Again she did not really need to fake it, "Flemeth has raised many daughters over her long lifetime," She explained, "There are stories of these many witches of the Wilds throughout Chasind legend, yet I have never seen a one and always wondered why not."

"I asked you about them once too," Lenya said and Morrigan nodded, "Do you know what happen to them?" She asked then.

"Indeed I do," Morrigan nodded, "They are all Flemeth," She said and Lenya's eyes widened a bit, but she was not overly surprised. Obviously she'd suspected it already. Sometimes Morrigan wished she could see what was happening inside Lenya's head, "When her body becomes old and wizened, she raises a daughter. And when the time is right, she takes her daughter's body for her own."

Lenya seemed to look somewhere far away and then she asked, "So why would she risk sending you with me?" She asked.

"I do not know," Morrigan replied and considered her answer carefully, "Perhaps 'tis as she said: the darkspawn threaten her as much as they threaten anyone else," She suggested, but she saw that Lenya dismissed that one almost immediately, "Or perhaps she believes that this journey will make me more powerful," Morrigan said and Lenya raised her brow, expecting her to clarify, "According to the tome, if the... host... is already powerful and trained in magic, it takes far less time for Flemeth to... settle in."

"Makes sense," Lenya simply said, "It is a huge risk she is taking though, considering what we are doing, because it is very possible that you could die and what will she do then? Get a new daughter?" Morrigan actually shivered. Lenya talked about her death in a same tone she had a normal conversation. Yes, she might not be any weaker after all.

"Not by any natural means," Morrigan replied, "Perhaps I should take this as a vote of confidence from her on my capabilities?"

"There is more to her sending you with us than just for you to gain power," Lenya said and looked at the fire, "She wants something."

"Or perhaps she simply wished me gone from the Korcari Wilds so she could prepare her ritual in peace," Morrigan said cautiously. Lenya's line of thought was getting a bit too close for the truth, "A disturbing thought," She said, but she did not know which she meant, that Flemeth might be preparing to devour her or that Lenya got a bit too close to the truth. Perhaps both.

"Are you certain about this?" Lenya asked then. Morrigan knew that she did not doubt her, but she wanted it not to be true. Something Morrigan could agree, but she also saw a potential for her to gain power in that.

"Indeed," Morrigan replied, "That is primarily what this tome details. The various daughters that Flemeth has... acquired. Their preparations and training," She explained, "I recognize all of it. I... am to be her next host. This is my purpose," She did not need to fake any of the discomfort she felt. That was all genuine.

Lenya stared at the fire for a while and then asked, "So what do you intend to do about it?" That was nice about Lenya, she did not offer empty words off how horrible something was. She would expect you to do something and not just lie down and wait for the inevitable.

"There is only one possible response to this: Flemeth needs to die." Morrigan said, "I will not sit about like an empty sack waiting to be filled," She added and then considered her next words carefully. A lot depended on it, "Flemeth must be slain and I need your help to do it."

Lenya studied her for a moment, "Why do you need my help?"

"Because if she is slain while I am near, I am not certain that she will not simply be able to take possession of me right there," Morrigan replied, "So obviously I cannot be the one to do it."

Lenya's eyes seemed to cloud and she was probably not even seeing Morrigan anymore. Even though Morrigan was used to the magical, it was still a bit eerie how Lenya seemed to sense things. It made trying to manipulate her even more dangerous.

"Very well," Lenya said finally, "I'll help you, if I can," She added and Morrigan tried not to sigh from relief, but it was difficult to resist it.

"Then what needs to be done is for you to go back to Flemeth's hut in the Korcari Wilds... without me," Morrigan said, "Confront her and slay her quickly. I doubt she will truly be dead even then, but it will take her years to find a new host and recover her power... if that is even possible," She did not want to sound hopeful, but it was hard not to, "The thing I must have is her true grimoire. With it I can defend against her power in the future. Everything else in her hut is yours."

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but I would do this regardless of rewards," Lenya said and now her eyes were shining with that blue glow again, "Did you have any specific time limit to this?" She asked then.

"Not really," Morrigan shook her head, "But the sooner the better, no?"

"Usually yes," Lenya nodded, "I'll see what I can do after we get this damn business with the ashes done."

"I am grateful," Morrigan said and they both stood up, "The sooner this can be done, the sooner it will set my mind at ease."

"Don't thank me yet, my friend," Lenya said, "Asha'Bellanar is a legend after all and she might just wipe us out and then you have one pissed off mother coming after you."

"That's... a cheerful thought... thank you," Morrigan said.

"You're welcome," Lenya chuckled and then she left.

Morrigan followed her with her eyes and shook her head. She would probably never learn to understand Lenya.

* * *

><p>Next two days Lenya still kept that grueling pace, but when there was no signs at all of the pursuit she slowed the pace. To everyone's relief. Even though Lenya had given them all more time to rest at night the pace she was keeping was hard.<p>

Now they had stopped earlier than usual and Lenya was speaking with Morrigan who had returned from her scouting. Leliana envied Morrigan for her skill of turning into animals. After Denerim Lenya had started to use her as a scout.

"Do you think those were Loghain's men?" Lenya was just asking from Morrigan when Leliana got closer to them.

"'Tis hard for me to say," Morrigan replied, "To the eyes of a bird one soldier looks just like any other soldier."

"They are not pursuing us or making an ambush for us then?" Lenya asked.

"As far as I could see they were pursuing a one man and they were gaining on him steadily," Morrigan replied, "If he can't hide then I expect them to catch him before the night falls."

"So we could walk past them and they would be none the wiser?" Alistair asked from behind Leliana.

"If we would move as fast as we've done so far then, yes," Morrigan replied.

"No," Lenya said, "We go after them," She added and they all turned to look at her.

"Why?" Alistair asked.

"Because I want to know who they are after and why it need so many people to do that," Lenya said, "At the moment in Ferelden it seems that only people who are hunted are Grey Wardens and our supporters."

"That is not very strong argument, Lenya," Alistair said.

"I didn't say it as an argument, Alistair," Lenya said, "That is just a reason why I am going after them. Weak or not, I want to know who they are and who they are after. Preferably before they catch whoever they are after and kill him."

"You are getting your feelings again;" Alistair sighed.

"Not really," Lenya said, "This time I am just curious."

"Oh," Alistair said, surprised.

"I can do decisions even without getting some mystical signs for them, you know," Lenya said and then turned to look the other way, "We need to walk fast to catch up with the group," She then added, "Much faster than we have done so far."

"You can't be serious," Alistair exclaim, "We can barely keep up with you as it is and if you make us go even faster we can't do so for long,"

"I don't expect you to do so for long," Lenya said and she turned to look at them. Her eyes were glowing from sheer determination now, "But I do expect you to do it," She added, "When I catch up with the group, I am expecting a fight and it would be nice if I had a few companions with me there," Then she turned around and motioned Morrigan to lead away.

"She's clever," Leliana said and started after Lenya. With those few words Lenya had ensured that everyone of their group would follow her and give all they had to do so. No one would want Lenya to be alone when she would catch up the group of soldiers. Their reasons for doing so might vary, but they would all be there. Out of love, friendship, duty and most of all loyalty.

"This is a test of some sort," Alistair said and shook his head..

"If it is a test," Wynne said and she seemed way too energetic for so old woman, "It is a test that will tell us what we are made off and how much we are ready to endure for someone we care about. We already know what Lenya is ready to endure for us. Now we might learn what we are ready to endure for her."

"Everything," Leliana said and she sped up her steps. There was no doubt in her mind of that.

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><p>True to her word Lenya increased the speed they were walking and since she had Morrigan to guide her the day was not even starting to set when they found the first signs of the other group and only an hour more before Morrigan returned and signaled them that they were closing in on the group.<p>

"Shale," Lenya said to the golem, "You have to stay here until the fighting starts. I want to get closer and see what's going on there before they notice us and I am not sure you can sneak."

Shale shrugged, "I don't think the dwarves had sneaking in mind when they made the first golems."

"Right," Lenya nodded, "So stay here until you hear the fighting starting."

"I will do as you say, but If I don't get to squish something I will be very unhappy," Shale said.

"We'll try to save you some," Lenya smiled and then motioned the others to follow her.

"That is quite creepy," Alistair whispered to her when they sneaked through the underbrush.

"You keep telling me that," Lenya whispered back, "And I have no idea why you find her creepy and not me," Alistair had really odd notions about creepy. Shale killing and liking it was creepy, but for some reason when Lenya did the same it wasn't creepy.

"I..." Alistair started to answer, but Lenya lifted her hand to silence him. Not that his voice was that loud since in truth his armor made more noise than his voice did.

They moved few more meters and then they saw the group they had been chasing. They were standing in a semicircle and facing a single man.

"Damn," Lenya muttered, "I had hoped we could catch them before they reach their prey."

"They are Bann Loren's men," Alistair whispered, "And the man they are talking to looks familiar."

"Now, Alistair, the important question," Lenya said, "Which side is this Bann Loren?"

"If you want an answer that is based on facts I can't give it to you," Alistair said, "But something in that man they are threatening is familiar and I think he could be an ally," He then added.

"Thank you, Alistair," Lenya said and unsheathed her swords, "They will try to kill him as soon as they see us coming, if they cut his throat or chop his head off there is not much we can do to prevent it."

"I can try to keep him safe," Leliana said, "I can't promise it will be enough though."

"Do what you can, lethallan," Lenya said and started to move. She saw how Leliana lifted her bow and then waited. She would shoot as soon as they were detected.

Lenya started slowly so her armor would not make so much noise, but soon she abandoned that and increased her speed. It was impossible to avoid making noise when she, Alistair, Sten and Oghren were all wearing heavy armor that was less than ideal for moving silently.

Startled yelp from the enemy told her that they had been spotted and then an arrow flew past her and hit to the man standing nearest to the lone man they were hoping to save.

Lenya was first to reach the enemy and she used her momentum and the confusion of the enemy to push through them. She decapitated one of the men as she went past him and wounded another.

When she was past them she twirled around and parried the attacks aimed at her back. She had to fight two enemies at once. One with each sword, but this was something she practiced every morning and her swords were like natural extensions of her arms.

Because of Lenya's daring move through the enemy they were in disarray and unable to respond to the more organized attacks of Lenya and her companions. The last straw was when Shale ran in the middle of the enemy and pretty much stomped three men to death before they even knew what was happening.

The fight was over almost as soon as it had begun. Lenya looked around and then sighed. They had not been fast enough and the man they had tried to save was lying on the ground. A dagger in his stomach and he was either unconscious or dead.

"Do what you can for him," Lenya ordered Wynne who nodded and kneeled beside the man.

"I know him," Alistair said, "He was part of King Cailan's honor guard at Ostagar. Elric Maraigne was his name I believe."

"You sure?" Lenya asked and Alistair nodded, "Why is he here and why was Loren's men after him?"

"That I don't know," Alistair said, "Let's hope he survives and can give us some answers."

"Well?" Lenya asked from Wynne.

"I can't save him, but I can heal him enough for you to talk to him," Wynne said, but it was clear that she did not like it. She would do it if Lenya asked, but she did not like it.

"Unfortunately we do need to speak with him," Lenya said, "Heal him as much as you can."

"Alright," Wynne said and her hands started to glow from the healing magic. Lenya had been target of that magic often enough to recognize the glow.

The man, Elric, stirred and groaned before his eyes opened. He studied them all and then his eyes returned to Alistair. Lenya bit her teeth together so she would not lash out. It was not an easy thing and she might not have managed it if Leliana had not put her hand on her shoulder. She hated it that she was dismissed as a someone not worth talking to just because she was an elf.

"Thank you," Elric said, "I... didn't expect the Bann's men to notice my escape so quickly. I tried to hide here in the woods, but there wasn't time. And now I'm a dead man."

"Well, you aren't dead yet," Lenya said a bit more harshly than she intended and Elric turned to look at Lenya now. His eyes widened and he obviously recognized Lenya.

"You were there in Ostagar. You know how things went," Elric said, "For me, it was either this, or die in some darkspawn belly, or... or be hung as a deserter."

"Yes, we recognize your face," Lenya said even though she had no idea who this man was, but Alistair did so that made it alright for her to say she did too.

"You were there with the Grey Wardens. One of Duncan's new recruits. I saw you when you came to Ostagar and at the last meeting. I was to guard the king. He was my friend, understand?" Elric said. He seemed to remember Lenya better than she did him, but she had not been really interested of shems when she'd been at Ostagar so that was not so surprising, "All that time in Bann Loren's prison and I couldn't stop thinking about all they suffered that one dark night at Ostagar..." Elric continued and a shiver seemed to go through him and he winced.

"We don't always get to choose our deaths," Lenya just said.

"No, perhaps not," Elric said, "But I've been given the chance to set things right. If it's the likes of you who sees me to my final hour, perhaps things happen for a reason," He continued and Lenya lifted her brow and wondered what did he mean with 'Likes of you'. Did he mean elves or the Grey Wardens? Either way it did sound like he was not completely happy about it, "The king entrusted me with the key to the royal arms chest. If anything were happen to him, he said, it was vital I delivered it to the Wardens."

"Is this chest somehow important?" Lenya asked and lifted her brow.

"The royal arms chest- it's where Cailan kept his father's sword, the one he always said he'd slay the archdemon with," Alistair said.

"You need a special sword for killing the archdemon?" Lenya asked incredulously.

"No, I think he just wished he could do it with that," Alistair said, "There's no way Duncan would have let him near the Archdemon. Magical sword or not," That made sense. The fool king probably dreamed of glory he would gain by slaying the Archdemon. Parades of his honor and all the crap. He should have never been allowed to leave the city and have any say on military matters.

"There was more than just the sword in the chest," Elric said, "There was a secret compartment where he kept documents concerning his dealings with Empress Celene and the Orlesians." He continued.

"Oh, Loghain couldn't be happy about those dealings," Lenya said and understood bit better the exchange of words Loghain and Cailan had during the last meeting. She did not know fully why Loghain did not like Orlesians, but it had more reasons than just the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden. Of that Lenya was sure. As a Dalish she knew more about hatred towards something than Loghain could ever fathom so she knew when something was personal.

"I can't say anything about that," Elric said and Lenya knew that he was lying, but that was not important.

"Why didn't Cailan just give the key to Duncan?" Lenya asked then.

"He didn't have the chance. Duncan was so busy with the new recruits and keeping Loghain at bay," Elric said and Lenya smiled. He didn't want to say what Loghain thought about the dealings, but then said there was need to keep Loghain at bay. Lenya just loved the scheming of the shems, "Whatever his reasoning, it's me Cailan entrusted it to."

"Do you still have the key?" Lenya asked.

"The Maker has a sense of humor, doesn't he?" Elric asked and let out a little laugh, "I suppose it's for the best, however-had I kept it, it would be in Bann Loren's hands by now."

"But you said Cailan entrusted it to you!" Wynne said accusingly.

"I was afraid," Elric admitted, "I thought I would lose it on the battlefield, so I stashed it in the camp," He continued and then his voice turned pleading, "Please-it's probably still there."

"You don't think the darkspawn found it?" Lenya asked. She didn't believe that herself, but there was so much she didn't know about the darkspawn that the possibility was there.

"I hope not," Elric said, "Would they even know how to work the locks even if they did?"

"The darkspawn are more cunning than we give them credit for, but the king trusted that lock with his secrets. I'd guess that the contents of that chest are still intact," Wynne said and Lenya agreed with her.

"The key is behind a loose stone in the base of a statue," Elric said, "I'll draw a map for you so you'll know where to search."

Lenya turned to look at Leliana who handed her a piece of paper and a quill pen, "Thank you, ma vhenan," Lenya said and then handed the items to Elric who started to draw.

"You'll be taking me along, won't you?" Alistair said, "Call me sentimental, but I left behind some darkspawn that really deserve a sword through the middle," He added grimly.

"And more than few of them deserve to be beheaded," Lenya said and her eyes flashed blue.

"The events at Ostagar still haunt my thoughts, Lenya," Wynne said, "If that is where we are headed, I would like to accompany you;" She added.

"We can't go there yet, but after the business with the Ashes is done we go there," Lenya said. They could visit the hut of Asha'bellanar at the same trip and save some time the traveling around the lands would take if they would need to return to the wilds more than once.

"It is vital that the king's documents do not fall into the wrong hands. As for Maric's sword, it is too powerful to be pawed at by those monsters. Same for the king's other arms and armor," Elric said and he was visibly weakening, "And... and if you happen to find Cailan's body, see it off. He was our king. He shouldn't be left to rot amidst the darkspawn filth," He continued and his voice weakened with every word and when he got to the end of the sentence he closed his eyes and exhaled one last time.

"Well," Lenya said, "It seems we are returning to the Ostagar."

"Should we bury him?" Wynne asked.

"No," Lenya said and shook her head, "I don't want to make it easier for anyone to find out that whoever killed these men wanted to save Elric."

"You think someone will come after these men?" Alistair asked.

"Eventually yes," Lenya nodded and turned to look at Alistair, "Do you know how far this Bann Loren's house is from here?" She asked and took her map from her belt pouch, "We are roughly here," She pointed at the map after she unfolded it.

"Bann Loren's estate is here if I remember right," Alistair said after he studied the map for a moment, "About... three days journey if you walk fast or two if you walk like you do," He added and smiled at Lenya.

"Ha ha!" Lenya said, "You are such a bundle of laughs," She shook her head and then turned to talk to Morrigan, "We need to find out a place to camp again and this time the nearby lake or river can't be just a bonus, it's needed."

"You going to return to the road?" Morrigan asked.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "Be fast."

"I'll be as fast as it's possible, but 'tis not like I make the places to camp out of thin air," Morrigan said and turned into a bird again. Lenya chuckled at her response and then turned to the others.

"Okay, loot the bodies and then lets get back to the road," Lenya ordered.

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><p><strong>AN: And there's the chapter 34.**

**As usual with the traveling chapters I used it to get one of the conversation that has been waiting to be addressed. Morrigan's talk about the grimoire has been long time coming.**

**I had not actually planned to use meeting with Elric just yet, but after Morrigan makes her request to go to the Wilds it seemed natural to add that on as well.**

**Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcomed**


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Chapter 35 is finally here. After the chance meeting with one of the Cailan's honor guard Lenya and her companions set out for a camp.**

**I apologize that it has taken longer than planned to get the next chapter up, but there has been other things demanding my attention and then I struck in a writers block. Which I'm still recovering. Hopefully this chapter helps on breaking that block.**

**I wish to thank everyone who have been reading the story and is still doing so. Special thanks to those who review. It means a lot to hear what you think of the chapters.**

**Extra thanks to Faelan whose support has never wavered. Hugs to you my friend.**

**I also want to wish you all a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014 with this chapter.**

**I did not have a beta on this chapter so I am sorry for all the grammatical errors you might encounter.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

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><p><strong>Camp near a lake<strong>

The camp site Morrigan had found for them was near perfect. It had a small river that flowed to a small lake and it was far enough from the road to be hidden from anyone walking there. There was hardly any signs of previous campers on the clearing so the place was not widely known to anyone. It was also very defensible because one side was blocked by the lake and one other by a rock wall that went almost straight up.

"Are you sure you don't just magic these campsites?" Lenya asked from Morrigan, "Because I doubt we could find a better place even if we spent few weeks looking for one."

"Only magic involved was a shapechange to a bird," Morrigan said, "But thank you," She said and then walked to the other side of the small clearing. Like always she set her tent away from others.

Lenya watched her go and then turned to talk to Shale, "I hate to ask, but could you keep watch until I get everything set up?"

"It asks, so I don't mind," Shale said, "If it sends its drooling four legged companion with me."

"Abelas?" Lenya asked curiously. That was a new development.

"Yes," Shale said, "It can move more silently than I can."

"That is true," Lenya nodded, "Abelas, go with Shale and guard the camp with her," She then said to Abelas by using her own language. Abelas let out a soft bark and then he and Shale left the camp.

"How do you want the guard shifts arranged?" Alistair asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Lenya said and looked at Leliana. She wanted to ask Alistair to do the guard shifts he promised to do in Denerim, but it wouldn't be fair of her to do so after she'd pressed them all so hard.

"Okay," Alistair said and then he turned to go set his tent, but before he got there he turned to look back at Lenya, "You still have those free guard shifts to use I promised to take," Then he resumed his walk to his own tent and started to set it up.

Lenya could only stare after him. Sometimes Alistair really managed to surprise her. She shook her head and smiled as she started to set her own tent up. She would need to clean her armor and then she would go to wash herself and if someone came between her and the water she would hurt them badly.

* * *

><p>Leliana watched how Lenya went to the lake and bit her lower lip. She wanted to follow her, but she knew that if she now followed Lenya she could not keep her hands of her. She'd been thinking of her more and more lately. Especially at nights when she was alone at her bedroll.<p>

She'd woken up more than one time from the dream panting and really wishing that Lenya was really there. It was like someone was slowly torturing her.

Leliana shook her head and tried to concentrate on checking her armor and bow. When she looked at her bow she sighed. She would really need a new bow soon. Her current one was barely adequate.

She had just put her armor away and taken her bow in her hands when Alistair lowered another bow in front of her. Her eyes went wide when she recognized that bow. It had belonged to Marjolaine and it was one of the best bows Leliana had ever tried.

"That's... that's Marjolaine's..." Leliana said and stared at the bow.

"If you don't want to use this one, we understand and we can sell it and get you a new one, but Lenya thought it has to be your call," Alistair said, "Lenya also said that it is a very good bow so it would be shame to sell it."

"Lenya is right," Leliana said and very slowly wrapped her hand around the grip and lifted the bow from the ground. It felt just like she remembered it. Very light and it fit into your hand like it was made just for you. She'd sometimes dreamed of owning it, "This is one of the best bows I've ever used."

"It's yours if you want it," Alistair said.

Leliana stood up and pulled the bowstring back. The feel of it was as she remembered. Enchantment on it made arming it almost effortless, but still added more power to the arrow. She slowly unarmed it, "Thank you," She said.

"Thank Lenya," Alistair said, "She's the one who found it from the house. Your old master had hidden it."

"Nothing new there," Leliana said. Marjolaine had always been a bit paranoid with this bow... and well with everything else as well.

"Well, it is yours now," Alistair said and turned to leave, but stopped and turned to look at Leliana, "You don't have to do your guard shift today," He said, "I will take them."

"Lenya decided that?" Leliana asked. It didn't actually sound like Lenya. She would not put Alistair through extra shifts because she'd pushed them so hard lately.

"No," Alistair said and shook his head, "She wouldn't do that so I decided it on her behalf," Then he left.

Leliana stared after him and then she smiled. She would have to find someway to thank him, but that was something she would need to think about later. Now she had much more important thing to do. She put her armor and her new bow away and took her towel. Unfortunately Lenya had already come back from the lake, but perhaps it was better this way since Lenya was already bugging Wynne about the food.

What Leliana had in mind would be all the better if there was nothing distracting Lenya or her for that matter. Humming happily to herself she walked to the lake.

* * *

><p>Lenya sat at the fire and studied her swords and smiled when she didn't find a single flaw from the blades and that they were as sharp as they'd been when she got them.<p>

She had just sheathed them when she smelled a flowery scent over the smoky scent of the fire. It was a scent she would recognize anywhere because it belonged to Leliana.

She lifted her eyes from her swords and her breath caught up in her throat. Evening sun was shining behind Leliana and it created a halo around her and made her look radiant. Lenya had to lick her lips because all the sudden her mouth felt really dry.

"Will you walk with me?" Leliana asked.

"Wh... yes," Lenya managed and Leliana smiled at her.

"Come, mon coeur," Leliana said and offered her hand to Lenya. Lenya took her hand and they started to walk towards the beach.

* * *

><p>"What are you thinking, ma vhenan?" Lenya asked after they arrived to the shoreline of the lake.<p>

Leliana turned to look at Lenya and felt nervous all the sudden, "It has been some time since I left Lothering," Leliana said finally, "When I stepped out of the cloister I had no idea where my path would lead," She continued and then she took Lenya's both hands into her own and looked at her into the eyes, "I walked where the Maker led me and..." She took one steadying breath, "He has rewarded me for my faith. I found you."

Lenya raised her brow and smiled, "So the Maker's a divine matchmaker now?" She asked playfully and her eyes shined from that inner light of hers.

"Something like that," Leliana chuckled. She could quite happily get lost in Lenya's eyes, "The Maker wants his children to be happy. Would He have created in us the capacity for love if He did not intend for us to find it?" She asked.

"Love?" Lenya asked and her eyes shined more brightly.

"Yes, that glorious rich and decadent emotion that one finds oneself hopelessly stuck in," Leliana replied and then she smiled, "Much like caramel pudding," She said and touched Lenya's cheek with her hand.

"Mmm... pudding," Lenya closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against Leliana's hand.

"Oh, I have tales of pudding like you would not believe..." Leliana said and she had to shake her head mentally. This did not go quite as planned, but then again things rarely did with Lenya, "...perhaps we could retire to my tent and I could regale you?" She asked and held her breath.

Lenya's eyes started to shine even more brightly and then she leaned closer until their lips almost touched, "I don't think I could turn down such a proposition," She said and then brushed her lips against Leliana's.

Even the light touch of Lenya's lips felt like it had ignited Leliana's body on fire, "Good. Now come with me, before I lose my patience," She ordered.

"Yes, my lady," Lenya said and Leliana's eyes went wide. She'd just issued an order to Lenya like she was a servant, "Calm down, ma vhenan," Lenya said, "I was not offended," She added and then pulled Leliana into a kiss that silenced all her efforts to apologize.

"I..." Leliana started after the kiss ended, but Lenya put her finger to her lips, "Lead the way, my lady," She said and her eyes shined with something different now. Desire and pure lust.

Leliana took Lenya's hand and lead her into her tent. Which she had set up a bit further away this time. Like she'd subconsciously known this would happen and they would need some privacy.

* * *

><p>When the tent flap closed behind them Leliana turned around and just watched Lenya like she was not quite sure how to start. Lenya knew how that was since she had dreamed of this more than once during the last weeks and her whole body seemed to be humming from need.<p>

Finally Lenya made the decision and pulled Leliana into a kiss and this time it had hunger behind it. Their bodies pressed against each other with almost crushing force. Leliana felt so soft against her that Lenya yearned to explore it more.

She felt Leliana's hand caressing her back and then they found the knot Lenya had used to tie the cloth in place that supported her breasts. With skilled fingers Leliana opened them and then the fabric was only held in place by their bodies pressing together.

Then the kiss ended and Leliana stepped backwards and the cloth dropped to the ground. Lenya felt Leliana's eyes on her breasts and saw hunger grow in them.

"You're beautiful," Leliana said and very slowly lifted her hand to touch Lenya's skin. Lenya knew that her skin was covered in white lines of old scars and normally she wasn't so conscious of them, but for some reason she now felt like they made her really ugly, "I'm all scarred," Lenya said and blushed, it was silly to feel like that in front of Leliana, who was no stranger to the scars and Leliana's scars did not diminish her beauty at all, but Lenya couldn't help herself, "Beautiful," Leliana repeated and then Lenya felt Leliana's hand touch one of the scars on her stomach. The one made by Marjolaine's assassins arrow. When she traced the scar with her fingers Lenya felt shivers of pleasure go through her.

Lenya could only shiver as Leliana gently traced all the scars with her finger. Starting from her stomach and slowly getting up. When her fingers traced the marks on Lenya's chest and breasts Lenya felt how her nipples hardened, but Leliana avoided touching them.

Just when Lenya was almost ready to growl from frustration Leliana pulled her into a kiss and as it ended she traced Lenya's jaw with her tongue and when she got to her ear and nibbled at it gently Lenya let out a moan and when Leliana traced her tongue around the edges of her ear she almost lost it there, "Creators..."

"Liked that did you?" Leliana whispered in her ear and her breath sent another shiver through Lenya.

"Liked it?" Lenya managed to say and then pulled her head back so she could see Leliana eyes, "Loved it..." She murmured and then pressed her lips against Leliana's and her hands went under Leli's light shirt and started to pull it up. Leliana pulled back a bit and with her help Lenya pulled her shirt off. She did not have anything under it and when they resumed the kiss the sensation when their bare skin touched was almost overwhelming. Leliana's skin was so soft and warm.

Finally Lenya broke the kiss and stepped back. She wanted to see all that softness she'd felt against her own skin. When her eyes met Leliana's creamy skin and generous breasts Lenya swallowed hard, "You're perfect..." Lenya muttered in awe and lifted her hand so she could touch that perfection.

When Lenya's fingers brushed against Leliana's stomach Leliana closed her eyes and shivered, "So soft..." Lenya murmured as her fingers continued to explore Leliana skin. Shivers on Leliana's body increased and she let out those little sighs that made Lenya herself wild.

Finally she cupped Leliana's breasts in her hands and rubbed her thumbs over her hardened nipples. Leliana let out a delightful little moan and pushed her breasts against Lenya's hands. Never letting Leliana's breast from her hands Lenya leaned closer and kissed Leliana.

During the kiss Lenya felt how Leliana was trying to tug her pants down and she reluctantly let go off Leliana's breasts to give her better access. Soon the straps that had been holding her pants up were open and Leliana started to pull them down. Lenya spread her legs a bit and her pants just slid down.

Leliana ended the kiss and started to kiss Lenya's neck again, but now her hands were not staying idle. One found its way to Lenya's breast and cupped it and then pinched her nipple between fingers. Lenya let out a moan and dug her fingers into Leliana's hair and wanted her to keep going with her mouth.

Leliana knew what she was doing and slowly kissed her way down until her mouth captured the peak of Lenya's breast in her mouth and sucked at it, "Creators...!" Lenya sighed when pleasure shot through her whole body and into the growing tension within her. Leliana twirled her tongue around her nipple and bit it gently.

Then Lenya's eyes went wide as she felt Leliana's fingers touch her sex and slide between her folds. Slowly, almost tortuously slowly, those fingers explored every inch of her and then she felt a finger enter her and Leliana's thumb brushing against the throbbing nub of her center. The sensation was so strong that Lenya had to take a tighter hold of Leliana or she would have collapsed to the ground.

With knowing just how and when to move her fingers Leliana brought Lenya to the brink of release and then over it, "Mmm... Leli!" Lenya exhaled as she came.

When the last tremors of Lenya's orgasm subsided Leliana pulled her hand away from her core and leaned back. She brought her fingers up to her mouth and licked them, "You taste absolutely divine," Leliana said.

Lenya smiled at her and then pulled her into a kiss. She could taste herself in Leliana's lips, "Well, my sneaky bard," Lenya said after the kiss ended and looked Leliana straight into the eyes, "My turn."

"Oh... is it?" Leliana returned the look and Lenya saw a need in them.

"Most certainly," Lenya said and pulled Leliana closer.

* * *

><p>Leliana let Lenya pull her into the kiss and she just wanted to feel Lenya's firm body against her own again. She would have wanted to explore every inch of that body, but that thought was fleeing fast as she felt Lenya's finger traveling on her skin again.<p>

This certainly was not Lenya's first time because her fingers knew exactly what they were doing. When they cupped her breasts again and Lenya ran her thumb over her nipples Leliana moaned as the pleasure sent shivers through her body.

Lenya ended the kiss and ran her tongue along her jaw line and into her ear. Another shot of pleasure ran through her when she felt Lenya's teeth at her earlobe. Then she continued her kissing down on her neck, leaving a Leliana's skin on fire after it. Lenya hands never stopped their caresses of her breasts and Leliana's need started to truly build up. Another moan escaped from her.

"I just love that sound," Lenya said suddenly and stopped the kisses on her neck for a moment.

"What...ahh... sound?" Leliana asked and opened her eyes only to be lost in Lenya's. Then she let out a moan as Lenya circled her nipple with her thumb, "That sound," Lenya smiled and then she released one of Leliana's breast and leaned down.

When Lenya licked her nipple and then sucked at it gently at first, but then a bit harder, Leliana buried her fingers in Lenya's hair and pushed her breast against the mouth that was giving her all these wonderful sensations.

Lenya continued to lick Leliana's breasts and her hands started to travel down on Leliana's stomach leaving a trail of light touches burning on Leliana's skin and when they met her pants she started to pull them down. The light cloth belt that was holding them up opened under Lenya's nimble fingers and then her pants just slid down.

Then Lenya's fingers continued their way down, but when they touched the hair that crowned Leliana's sex they stopped and their touch changed to... curious. Lenya stopped her administrations on Leliana's breasts and looked down. Leliana opened her eyes and looked at Lenya.

"Everything alright?" Leliana asked as Lenya continued to run her fingers through the hairs crowning at her sex. Elves didn't have pubic hair so this must be something new to Lenya.

"What?" Lenya said and looked up, "Yes... just didn't expect..." She bit her lower lip and then smiled, "They feel nice," She said and then kissed Leliana, and then her fingers continued their movement. The movement was so sudden that when Lenya's fingers entered to her folds Leliana moaned loudly and she felt Lenya's lips curve into a smile against her own lips.

Lenya's fingers explored her folds thoroughly and when they found her clit they stopped there for a moment, pushing Leliana higher and higher until they stopped, "Maker!..." Leliana growled through the kiss, "If you stop now I will kill you," She threatened.

Lenya smiled and then Leliana felt a finger touch her entrance and slide inside and at the same time another finger gave hard strokes over her clit. She felt her muscles contract and the orgasm exploded inside her. She wrapped her hands around Lenya and just clung to her as her body trembled from the orgasm.

When she opened her eyes Lenya pulled her hand up and brought it to her lips. She closed her eyes and licked it. Leliana suddenly felt like blushing. The way Lenya licked her juices off from her finger was... incredibly arousing for some reason.

Then Lenya opened her eyes and smiled, "I want to taste you properly," she said and then she gently, but firmly lowered her onto her bedroll and pushed onto her back. Lenya herself got on her knees and leaned over her. The view that opened up for Leliana made her need start to rise again. Lenya's breasts were hanging and gently moving as she moved and between those peaks Leliana saw the rest of Lenya's body. It truly was to die for.

Lenya moved up and her breasts brushed against Leliana's own making them both moan. Then Lenya lowered herself on top of her and Lenya's lips captured her own. Weight of Lenya's body and the feel of her skin against her own felt glorious.

When the kiss ended they were both breathing hard and Lenya started to move down again, but Leliana stopped her, "I want to taste you as well."

"After me," Lenya said.

"At the same time," Leliana smiled and then lifted her head so she could whisper her proposition to Lenya. When she'd explained what she meant Lenya's eyes went wide and then they lit up.

Leliana admired Lenya's body as she started to change her position and when she finally was on her knees on top of Leliana's head and she could see Lenya's most private parts right above her she sighed and lifted her head.

When her tongue ran through the slick folds of Lenya's sex and she tasted her sweet taste again she closed her eyes and savored it. At the same time another sensation ran through her body as she felt Lenya's tongue enter her own sex and started to explore it.

Even though they had both just had glimaxed it didn't take long before Leliana felt the rising tension again and with every lick of Lenya's tongue it rose higher and she could feel Lenya rising there with her.

Just when Leliana was sure she could not take anymore Lenya sucked her clit in her mouth and pushed her over the edge at the same time she pushed Lenya herself there with her. Their bodies trembled in harmony as the orgasms ravaged their bodies. Not just one, but many orgasms.

When the tremors finally subsided Leliana felt like someone had turned her bones to jelly. Lenya was fearing a bit better, but only slightly, enough that she could turn around and come to lie beside her.

Leliana turned her head and just admired Lenya's face. Lenya's lips were still glistening of Leliana's own juices and she languidly licked her lips, "Emma lath," Lenya said with her own language, "You taste absolutely amazing," She added then. Leliana wondered what emma lath meant. It did feel very significant somehow.

Leliana reached out and captured Lenya's lips into a kiss. She could taste her own taste in Lenya's lips.

When the kiss ended Leliana just kept admiring Lenya's face. Her tattoos were intricate twirls that only enhanced her beauty. She lifted her hand and traced the tattoo with her finger. They were so deep part of Lenya that Leliana found herself wanting to know what they meant.

"Mythal," Lenya said suddenly, "My Vallaslin is the mark of Mythal, the Great Protector and patron of motherhood and Justice," She added and she emphasized the word Justice.

Leliana traced the whole tattoo and then looked at Lenya into the eyes, "Protector seems very fitting for you, mon amour."

"That's what the Keeper said too," Lenya said, "Well, except she did not call me mon amour," She smiled, "What does that mean?"

"I'll tell you if you first tell me what emma lath means," Leliana said.

Lenya smiled and then she moved her head so their noses were touching and only thing Leliana could see was Lenya's eyes, "It means... my love," Lenya whispered and Leliana saw her eyes shift color and warm up.

Leliana felt a lump in her throat and it took a moment before she could say anything. The way how they thought in exact same things was almost scary, "Mon amour means the same," She managed and then she kissed Lenya gently.

When the kiss ended Lenya did not move away and she kept her eyes on Leliana's, "Ma'arlath, Leliana," She said and even though Leliana did not know the words she understood them. The translation to them was clearly visible in Lenya's eyes.

"Je t'aime aussi, Lenya," Leliana said and then they were kissing again. This time there was heat in it again and Leliana felt Lenya's hands start to wander on her body.

* * *

><p>When Lenya woke up she felt better than she'd felt in months. There hadn't been nightmares, but there had been very steamy dreams involving Leliana.<p>

"Hello," Leliana said and Lenya turned to look at the other woman. She was sitting next to her and watched her. She was naked and Lenya had to bite her lip because her mind went straight back to all the things they'd done last night.

"Hello," Lenya said and smiled, "Did you sleep well?" She asked then.

"I've been up for some time, but yes, I slept very well," Leliana replied, "I've just been watching you sleep," She added and Lenya lifted her brow questioningly, "Did you know your eyelids flutter when you dream?" She asked and then let out a little giggle, "And you have such pretty eyelashes."

"Er... m-my eyelashes?" Lenya asked abashed. She'd never thought her eyelashes were pretty. At least no one had mentioned them before.

"Mmmmm," Leliana murmured, her eyes half closed, "They're like little butterflies... I want to catch them and keep them in a jar," She smiled happily and that transformed her into something absolutely stunning.

"Sure," Lenya said, "Where's the jar?" She asked and Leliana laughed, "By the Creators I love the sound of your voice when you laugh," Lenya said. She could happily listen Leliana's laugh forever.

"I'm so happy. Blissful," Leliana said and that was something Lenya could relate, "I haven't slept so well since I was forced to leave from Orlais," Leliana continued, "Knowing you will be the first thing I see when I wake gives me no small amount of comfort," She continued, "I feel safe in your arms. Safe, loved and accepted," Leliana smiled, "This is where I belong. Thank you," She leaned down and gave Lenya a small kiss.

"This does feel right, and natural," Lenya said and that, if something, was extremely weird and something she'd never had thought could be possible with someone who was not an elf, but everything with Leliana felt like it was how things should be.

"I suppose we should get up," Leliana said then, "We have a long day ahead of us."

"I don't feel like getting up," Lenya said and measured Leliana with her eyes. Her body was just to die for and with increased light of the day sifting through the tent she looked even more beautiful. There was no way she would get up from the bed just yet.

"Come on..." Leliana lifted her hand in front of her and shook her fists, "...darkspawn await with bated breath for you to put them out of their misery!" She exclaimed.

"Oh no," Lenya said and reached to touch Leliana's leg with her hand, "If the darkspawn want to get killed so badly, Alistair can handle the killing part for a while because I have a beautiful woman in front of me and I have something much more pleasurable in mind than killing darkspawn."

"What are you-" Leliana started and then looked down at her leg Lenya's hand was caressing, "oh... I see... hmm, I suppose the darkspawn will just have to wait a bit longer..." She added and leaned down to kiss Lenya.

"Damn straight they can," Lenya said and then Leliana's lips captured her own.

* * *

><p>Alistair was looking at the sky. The sun was already past noon and Lenya and Leliana still hadn't come out of the tent. He wondered if he should go tell them how far the day was already or wake them or something.<p>

"If you go there now, Alistair, they will kill you," Zevran said when he suggested it to the rest of the group, "You better just enjoy the extra rest they are giving us."

"But..." Alistair started. He knew or at least thought he knew what Lenya and Leliana were doing, but the day was already so long that he wondered if something had happen.

"Trust me, Alistair," Zevran said, "When you hear the voices, like what we heard a few hours ago, coming from a tent, you do not go there and ask if they are alright. Unless you have a deathwish."

"Zevran is right," Wynne said, "Just sit down and rest."

"Besides, you really think Abelas will let you even near their tent?" Zevran said and nodded towards Abelas who was sitting in front of Leliana's tent and guarded it.

"Okay," Alistair said and sat down. He didn't quite know what to do so he took his sword and started to clean it.

* * *

><p>Zevran shook his head as he watched Alistair. They really should have just hooked him up with a whore at the Pearl. He would get himself killed if he would not learn certain things. Like when to go disturb people and when you just waited for them to get clothes on and come out on their own. Even Lenya's mabari was obviously smarter than Alistair in this since it hasn't even tried to go to the tent.<p>

The sounds he had heard from the tent told him that this situation was absolutely on the latter option. He would have given just about anything to get to see the pair though. They had been going on most of the night and a good portion of the morning. Their stamina was quite impressive.

"Does the painted elf wish he would be there with the Warden and the Chantry sister?" Shale asked.

"Oh yes," Zevran replied, "Don't you ever wish you could be with someone?"

"Of course not," Shale snorted, "Mere thought of the soft squishy things grinding against each other and spreading liquids all over them is disgusting," She continued and a shudder seemed to go through her.

"For someone who doesn't want to do it you seem to know quite well how it is done," Zevran said.

"Agh!" Shale groaned, "When I was still a statue some soft and squishy things thought it to be fun to do that in my shadow and I of course was forced to watch and listen... Oh how I wish I could have stomped them all and watch them fountain blood all over the place."

"Now that could have dampen the romance a little," Zevran said and smiled.

Zevran watched at Leliana's tent for a while and then decided that he could make another breakfast while they waited. If the women were not hungry after all that exercise he would eat his boots.

* * *

><p>Lenya and Leliana were lying comfortably snuggled against each other and watched at the tent ceiling. It felt like forever since Lenya had felt like this. Completely relaxed and loved. Feel of Leliana's body against her own felt right.<p>

Sex had been truly great; intense, passionate and hot. They had both given themselves to the other completely and without reservations. Not to mention that they had really taken their time with it.

"We should probably get up," Leliana said.

"Probably," Lenya admitted, "Not really want to, but I guess it would be unfair for the others if we spent whole day having sex while they wait."

Leliana giggled, "A bit yes," She said, "After all this is over we should take few days off and just have sex in every possible ways we can think of."

"Sounds like a plan," Lenya smiled and then she turned to look at Leliana, "Ma'arlath," She said in her own language.

"Ma'arlath, Lenya," Leliana replied and then they kissed.

"We better get dressed or we will not get out of this tent," Lenya said when the kiss ended. They were both starting to get flushed again and if they didn't get their clothes on now, Lenya would go down on Leliana again, "Soon," Lenya swallowed. Her mind was all too happy to provide arousing images before her eyes and naked Leliana sure didn't help on her resolve.

"Yes," Leliana nodded and sat up.

It took them awhile to get their clothes on, but they did manage to do it.

When Lenya opened the tent flap and stepped outside she was greeted by Abelas who tilted his head and wagged his tail. He had obviously been guarding the tent.

"Good boy," Lenya smiled and Abelas let out a little bark.

"Ah, I see we had a guard," Leliana said.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "It is bit creepy how he knew to do it though."

"You two are joined and he's a smart boy," Leliana said.

"Yes, I guess he is," Lenya said and scratched Abelas' ears. Then she finally turned to look at the rest of the camp. Most of their companions were sitting around the fire and Zevran was... cooking, "Hmm... food," Lenya said dreamily and just then noticed how hungry she was.

"Ah, my dear ladies," Zevran said when they approached the fire, "I decided to make some more breakfast because it looked like you wanted to... sleep late today and you might be hungry... from all that sleeping you did."

"Thank you, Zev," Lenya said and took pretty much half of what Zevran had prepared, "I had really active sleep so as it happens I am really hungry," She gave brilliant smile to Zevran, "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome, my dear friend," Zevran said, "I have occasionally suffered from active sleep as well and I know how famishing it can be. No matter how much you... eat while sleeping."

"Funny that," Leliana said and sat next to her.

"Anything happened while we slept?" Lenya asked, "No one attacked us I hope?"

"No, no attacks," Zevran replied, "Our templar friend was a bit anxious though and we had to talk him out of coming to wake you two up."

"Oh, Alistair," Lenya said and shook her head to her Warden companion, "You are hopeless, my friend."

"What?" Alistair asked, "I was worried that something might have happened to you."

"We need to get you a woman or a man if you prefer that and teach you out of that innocence," Lenya said, "It will get you killed if you keep that up."

"What, why?" Alistair asked, confused.

"Because if you had come to disturb us I would have killed you," Lenya said.

"And after she had killed you I would have killed you again," Leliana said.

"I told you," Zevran grinned at Alistair whose face turned red and then he left muttering to himself as he went.

"Don't tease the boy too much," Wynne said, "He will learn."

"Hopefully before he gets himself killed," Lenya said.

"I think he would prefer that as well," Wynne smiled, "What's our plans for today?" She asked then.

"Continue moving towards the Circle Tower and visit at the Peak when we go past it," Lenya said.

"Why do we need to stop at the Peak?" Leliana asked.

"I need to get my armor fixed and Bodahn promised to meet us there," Lenya replied.

"Are we going to continue with the pace we've used since we left from Denerim?" Wynne asked.

"I don't think we need to," Lenya replied, "There hasn't been any signs of pursuit and even though we did leave a mess after us yesterday it will take awhile before anyone finds the bodies so we can continue with the normal pace from here on."

"Good," Wynne said, "This old woman could use a bit slower pace."

"I bet she could," Lenya smiled, "We'll leave as soon as me and Leliana have eaten so you all have better to start packing."

"Of course," Wynne said and stood up. Then they all left the fire and went to pack the camp.

"Why do you need to have your armor fixed?" Leliana asked.

"It has some wear and tear I want fixed before it gets worse," Lenya replied, "And I think we might be able to afford some runes as well."

"Speaking of runes," Leliana said, "Thank you for the bow."

"You're welcome, emma lath," Lenya said.

* * *

><p><strong>Translations to the elven language Lenya uses in this chapter:<strong>

_**Emma lath = My love**_

_**Ma'arlath = I love you**_

_**Translations to the french language Leliana uses in this chapter:**_

_**Mon amour = My love**_

_**Je t'aime aussi = I love you too**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, chapter I have been waiting for a... about 20 or so chapters. This chapter is obviously all about Lenya and Leliana and I hope it is a good one.**

**Nothing else to say about it really. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews, good or bad, are welcomed.**


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: Chapter 36 is finally here. Lenya and her companions take a little break at the Soldiers Peak and have their equipments maintained.**

**I wish to thank everyone who have read this far and Special thanks to those who fave/alerted Lenya's story. Very special thanks to those who have reviewed.**

**As always Huge thanks goes to my dear friend Faelan for her unwavering support. **

**As I said on the notes of last chapter I suffered major writers block recently and it put my stories on hold. Including Lenya's story. Hopefully the block has now left me and I can continue writing properly. Updates will still come at slower pace unfortunately**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Soldiers Peak<strong>

Lenya sat near the forge and watched Mikhail as he worked to fix her armor. Aside from the arrow hole the armor had surprisingly little wear though.

"This arrow must have been enchanted to pierce the armor so cleanly," Mikhail said to her.

"I believe so, yes," Lenya nodded, "The assassins were very well equipped."

"You do lead far more interesting life than I do Warden," Mikhail said.

"Probably, but you create far more beautiful pieces from a simple piece of metal than I could ever hope to manage," Lenya smiled, "How long you think it will take to mend it?"

"Two days for all the armor repairs," Mikhail said, "A day for the weapons."

"Okay," Lenya said and then turned to look at Leliana. The armor she wore was in good condition, but its quality was not really that good. Because the money had been scarce they've been focused on the armors of the melee fighters like Lenya herself. Leliana and Zevran had been left with what they could have afforded. Zevran fared better because his armor had been really good to begin with.

"Do you have anything suitable for rogues?" Lenya asked, "Something that doesn't hinder a usage of a bow?"

"I have some leather armors that has been reinforced with silverite links," Mikhail replied, "It is light enough that it doesn't hinder movement and it is made so it doesn't make noise when you move."

"So it can be used in stealth as well?" Lenya asked.

"Yes," Mikhail said, "It is not as silent as pure leather armor, but if the user is skilled enough the added protection is worth it."

"How much you ask for it?" Lenya asked.

"Normally twenty five gold pieces, but for you fifteen," Mikhail said.

"Deal," Lenya said, "Let me know when you've made the repairs and I bring her here for refitting it."

"Will do, Warden," Mikhail said.

"I'll leave you to your work then," Lenya smiled.

* * *

><p>Alistair watched how Lenya left the forge. He had grown so used of wearing an armor that now that he was without it he felt naked. He saw that Sten wasn't happy about being out of his armor either. Sten had tried to protests that his armor was fine, but Lenya had not listened and just ordered them all to give their armors to Mikhail for repair and maintain.<p>

He felt that it was a bit unfair that Leliana and Zevran didn't need to walk around the keep in their camp clothes. Lenya on the other hand seemed perfectly happy to be out off her armor. She still had her swords strapped at her back though. In that regard Lenya was exactly like Sten. Neither of those wanted to be far away from their swords.

Oghren on the other hand had already passed out and couldn't care less if he had armor on or not.

Alistair saw how Lenya stopped to talk with Leliana. The way those two seemed to be completely different with each other than how they were towards anyone else was weird. It also made him happy because Lenya, if anyone, deserved some happiness.

He saw the pair laugh and then Lenya started to come towards him. She was obviously on her round to talk with each of her companions. She did that each day and she never left anyone out of that. She had not left even Wynne out when she had been getting on Lenya's nerves.

Alistair turned to look at the older mage. Her behavior towards Lenya had also changed. How or why Alistair had no idea.

"With age comes wisdom," Lenya said and startled him.

"What?" Alistair managed.

"You were wondering why she behaves so differently now," Lenya said.

"Would you stop doing that," Alistair said, "It is creepy when you read me like that."

"Alistair," Lenya sighed, "Even Oghren can read you."

"Thank you so much for that image," Alistair muttered and Lenya chuckled, "And how can you say that with age comes wisdom when she's way older than any of us?"

"There are more than one kind of age," Lenya said.

"You mean experience?" Alistair asked.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "Even with all her age and the wisdom that comes with it Wynne is still limited by her stay in the Circle. All her life it has defined her and she is very reluctant to see outside her comfort zone."

Alistair looked at Wynne again and then Lenya, "When we started this insanity I would have said same thing about you," He dared to say.

"Yes, that is true," Lenya nodded, "It is not easy to find out that not everything you believed in is what you expected it to be."

"So, you don't want to kill all humans anymore?" Alistair grinned.

"No, I am past that kind of thing," Lenya said and Alistair lifted his brow, "Now I only want to kill nine Shems out of ten," Lenya continued after a while.

"That's the Lenya I've grown to like," Alistair smiled, but then he grew more serious, "I've been thinking of what you said to me."

"I said to you when?" Lenya asked curiously.

"After we met my sister," Alistair said, "You told me that I need to start standing up for myself and not let just about anyone to walk over me and then you very eloquently told me to… eh… grow a pair," He stumbled at the end there. He really was not used to talking like that to women or to anyone for that matter.

"Yes, I do remember telling you that," Lenya said, "What in that had made you think?"

"Everything, really," Alistair replied, "You were right."

"Yes, I know," Lenya said.

"Maker, Lenya… I wish I had your confidence," Alistair let out a little laugh.

"You may need a little bit of practice before you manage that," Lenya said.

"Just a little bit?" Alistair lifted his brow, "I know I can't let other people people make decisions for me anymore or let other people decide what is best for me."

"Good," Lenya said and then grinned at him, "You still need to follow my orders though."

"That is different," Alistair said, "You are my commander and it is my duty to follow you. You are not telling me how I should live my life."

"And if I decide that the best thing for Ferelden is that you become its king?" Lenya asked.

"I wish you would not decide that, but if you do I will consider it," Alistair said.

"Good," Lenya said, "Now I want you to go to the chantry and become a priestess of Andraste."

"What?" Alistair exclaimed and then he noticed Lenya was shaking from a silent laughter, "Very funny."

"Sorry my friend, I just couldn't resist," Lenya said.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about," Alistair said.

"Oh?" Lenya asked, "What is it?"

"I wanted to ask you what you think of the people we are traveling with," Alistair said.

"People we…?" Lenya started and then lifted her brows, "Sure, but why?"

"The way you chose some of the people to travel with us… It had made me curious of what you really think about them," Alistair said.

"Okay, ask away," Lenya said.

"How about Oghren?" Alistair asked, "You must have an opinion on that smell at the very least."

Lenya chuckled, "Smell aside I actually rather like him."

"I would, too, if he could stick to the ribald stories and not so much with the belching and projectile vomiting," Alistair shrugged, "How he lifts his sword is a bit of a mystery," He continued, "Though I suppose the point is that he does lift it," He smiled and then grinned, "And so long as we can point him in the right direction, he charges too. He has gusto, I'll give him that."

"I'm sure he appreciates that," Lenya smiled, "Who is next?"

"Zevran," Alistair said, "You can't… trust him, can you?" He asked and continued before Lenya had time to reply, "Do you believe his so-called wow?"

"Yes, I actually do," Lenya replied.

"Really? Why?" Alistair asked and he was kind of surprised that he actually was surprised of the answer. He already had known that Lenya trusted Zevran, "That's a lot of trust to put in someone who tried to kill you."

"Only way to truly know someone is to fight them, Alistair," Lenya said, "Words can be dishonest, but how you fight… no matter what, the fighting is honest."

"Sometimes I really wished I could see inside your head," Alistair shook his head in disbelief.

"You would go mad the instant you'd do that," Lenya chuckled.

"Probably," Alistair smiled, "He just seems shifty to me," He then continued.

"That might be because he really is shifty," Lenya pointed out.

Alistair rolled his eyes, "What about Sten?" He asked then, "The way he looks at me with those eyes… creepy," A shiver ran through him, "And he is so quiet for someone so big."

Lenya turned to look at Sten and followed him with her eyes before she replied, "I respect him."

"Fighting thing again?" Alistair asked and Lenya nodded, "The more I talk to him, the more reasonable he does seem. His philosophy is so strange, but it doesn't sound at all as vile as the chantry describes it."

"Is this the same chantry that says that I am a dangerous heretic?" Lenya asked with feigned curiosity, "The same chantry that destroyed my homeland centuries ago?"

"Okay, you made your point," Alistair sighed, "Chantry is right in the fact that you are dangerous though."

"Oh, yes," Lenya said and her eyes flared briefly with blue glow.

Alistair shook his head and then turned to look at Sten again, "And yet he killed all those people. He doesn't even deny it. Doesn't that bother you?"

"He seems to regret what he did," Lenya said.

"Hmm. I'm not so sure that his regret means the same as it would for us," Alistair said and turned to look at Lenya, "The qunari sense of honor is… a bit hard to grasp. For me, anyway."

"It is not entirely clear to me neither," Lenya confessed.

"Glad to hear I am not the only one," Alistair smiled and then turned to look at Morrigan, "Morrigan. Do you trust her? Think about it… Flemeth sent her with us for some other than she said."

"You really don't like each other , do you?" Lenya asked and she seemed amused. The bloody woman was amused.

"Well aside from the fact that she is a complete and utter bitch, no… I don't like her at all," Alistair said with contempt, "Why? Do you?"

"I like her just fine," Lenya replied.

"Great," Alistair sighed, "I am thrilled beyond words. No, really."

Lenya's body shook from the silent laughter again.

"Fine, have fun with the expense of your fellow Warden," Alistair scoffed and and then he turned to look at Leliana, "What about Leliana? Is she crazy? Or do you really believe in her vision?"

"You don't believe in religious visions and miracles?" Lenya asked without answering and she stopped laughing.

"Even the chantry believes that most claims of visions and such are usually people's minds playing tricks on them. Wishful thinking at best. I am not sure what I think," Alistair replied.

"It is kind of ironic that the entire chantry is build on a base idea of one woman getting visions, but then the chantry just tells that no one else can have them," Lenya chuckled, "As for Leliana's visions…" She turned to look at Leliana, "I believe that she believes in her vision."

"That's one way to put it," Alistair smiled and then he tried to school his face into something he hoped would show only slight interest, "I notice that you and her have become… close," He said and Lenya lifted her brow questioningly, "Am I right?" He asked and then hurriedly added, "The rest of us have talked about it."

"You talk about us?" Lenya asked and she tilted her head in a way that made Alistair want to blush. How in the name of the Maker she did that? - He thought.

"You think we have better things to do than gossip about you?" Alistair asked quickly. He was afraid Lenya would hit him. What in the Makers name made him start asking about this? "You give us far too much credit. Is it true or not?"

"Hmm," Lenya said and gave Alistair a curious look, "You do know what sex is?" She asked.

"What?" Alistair uttered surprised.

"Sex, you know what it is?" Lenya asked.

"Yes… I don't believe I'm having this conversation, but yes… I know what sex is," Alistair replied and he thought that his face must be bright red by now.

"Ah, okay, just checking since I was wondering if it really is possible that you did miss all the obvious signs of what happen between me and Leliana few nights ago and I'm not even going to mention the fact that we share a tent now," Lenya said, "But to answer your… oh so cleverly put question, yes we are close," She added and then she grinned, "Would you like to know how close we actually are?"

"Dear Maker no!" Alistair breathed horrified. He really should stop trying to be clever with the… well everyone of their group.

"You sure?" Lenya asked and then she started to laugh again.

"Ha ha," Alistair muttered, "Enough. I think my curiosity is sated."

"If you want to know more you just need to ask," Lenya said amused, "You know where to find me," She added and then turned to leave.

"So not going to happen," Alistair muttered when Lenya was out of hearing range.

* * *

><p>Lenya walked towards the fire where Wynne was sitting and doing something. Probably mending Alistair's clothes or something. She would have told Alistair to mend his own clothes, but Wynne didn't seem to mind doing it so Lenya had let it go.<p>

When she got closer she saw that Wynne was indeed mending clothes. From the looks of them they were her own robes this time though.

"Doing your daily visits, Lenya?" Wynne asked when Lenya sat beside her.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "I like knowing that my companions are alright."

"You take your responsibilities as a leader very seriously," Wynne said.

"It is my duty," Lenya said and looked at the older woman. She tried to figure out where Wynne was going with this. Even though she'd said to Alistair that Wynne had changed Lenya was not sure the old mage really had changed.

"That word comes so naturally from you," Wynne said, "I have seen many leaders who have struggled with the duty that had been placed upon them, but you do not struggle with it, you embrace it in a way I've never witnessed," She continued and Lenya lifted her brow questioningly, "I wish I'd seen that before you hammered it in my head as subtly as a mabari charge."

"Subtlety has never been my strong suit," Lenya said.

"I've noticed," Wynne chuckled and then she turned a bit more serious, "I have watched you and Leliana for a time and…." She said and Lenya prepared herself for another lecture. She did not believe Wynne had changed her mind about her and Leliana being a stupid idea. Even though she'd not said anything judgemental anymore, "And perhaps I was wrong," She said and Lenya was pretty sure her mouth just hit the ground, "No need to be so shocked, young lady," Wynne laughed at her, "I may be old and prideful, but I know to give in when I notice I am wrong."

"Sorry," Lenya managed, "It's… just a bit unexpected."

Wynne smiled at her and then continued to speak, "There seems to be something special between the two of you," She said, "I think Leliana feels she's truly found her place with you, that after all her wanderings, she's finally home," There was gentle smile on Wynne's lips and she was looking at Leliana who was now playing with Abelas.

Lenya stood up and walked to the other side of the fire and stared at Leliana. She could also feel Wynne's eyes on her back, "I feel the same way," She said finally and lifted her hand and waved at Leliana who waved back at her, "It is a strange thing… the love," She said, "You find it in the weirdest places."

"Yes, it really is one of the weirdest of the Makers or the Creators gifts," Wynne said and Lenya could hear in her voice that she had personal experience in that. Lenya also appreciated it that Wynne included the Creators within her words.

"Eight months ago I'd never expected to find my self in love with a shem...human woman," Lenya said, "Would have killed anyone who might even suggest something like that, but here I am now… fully smitten with a gorgeous red haired human woman," She added and then turned to look at Wynne, "

Wynne set her robe and the needle aside and stood up and came to stand in front of Lenya, "I think I was too harsh in my judgement before, and I am sorry," She said and looked at Lenya directly into the eyes.

Lenya saw that Wynne really meant what she was saying and she respected her for it, "Apology accepted," She just said.

"Thank you," Wynne nodded and then looked at Leliana again, "What you have may not last forever; death and duty may part you, but love's worthiness is not diminished because of that," She continued, "I should have seen this before."

"We know that every moment could be our last," Lenya said, "But we will refuse to wallow in that."

"Instead you learn to cherish every precious moment that you spend together, knowing that it may be the last," Wynne said and Lenya nodded, "And for those of us watching…" She said and gave Lenya a knowing look that made her blush, "Well, it brings warmth to these old bones to know that something so beautiful can be found in the midst of chaos and strife."

"Thank you," Lenya didn't quite know what else to say. Even though she'd seen Wynne's behavior change during the recent weeks it had still come as surprise how completely she'd changed her views.

"If I may suggest something though," Wynne said then, "You might want to set your tent a bit further up next time we camp… you two are… rather vocal," She grinned at Lenya. Lenya felt her whole face heat up, "Just a suggestion my dear."

"I… I'll take it under consideration," Lenya managed.

"Glad to hear," Wynne smiled amused, "It's no trouble, but it does make one feel rather lonely to be alone in your bedroll when you listen to you two."

"Right…" Lenya coughed and felt that her face was bright as a tomato, "You are rather evil old woman, did you know that?"

"Oh, I know, but thank you my dear," Wynne smiled and sat back to her place and started to mend her robe again.

Lenya shook her head in disbelief and then she left the fire. She started to chuckle when she got away from the fire. Suggestion to set tent a bit further so she and Leliana would not keep others up with the sounds of lovemaking was probably the last thing she'd expected to hear from Wynne when she came to talk to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Later that night<strong>

Leliana stared at the ceiling of the tent and just enjoyed the feel of Lenya's body against her own. Lenya's free hand was drawing little shapes on Leliana's stomach causing a little shivers of pleasure go through her body.

They had shared the tent for few nights now and it made her feel completely safe and at peace. When she went to sleep and when she woke the first thing she saw was Lenya and that felt absolutely right.

"What are you thinking, emma lath?" Lenya asked and when Leliana turned her head to look at her she got lost in Lenya's eyes. Those bright blue eyes seemed to draw her inside and embrace her. She would gladly get lost in them, "Lethallan?" Lenya said quastioningly and made her blink.

"Sorry," Leliana smiled, "I got lost in your eyes."

"Should I keep them closed?" Lenya asked playfully.

"Absolutely not," Leliana exclaimed, "They are such pretty eyes."

"Okay, I'll keep them open then," Lenya smiled, "But you didn't answer my question… well unless you were actually thinking about my eyes that is."

"No, I wasn't thinking of your eyes, mon amour, even though they are simply breathtaking," Leliana said, "What I was actually thinking was how absolutely amazing and right this… us together… feels," She motioned with her free hand to encircle them both.

"It does feel right, doesn't it," Lenya smiled and reached up to kiss her, "To feel you against me when we go to sleep makes me feel… light and loved. And when our heartbeats gets entwined together and make me feel complete… It is a feeling I thought I'd never experience again," Then Lenya withdrew a bit so Leliana could see her eyes again, "I love you, Leliana," Lenya said with a voice that was no more than a whisper, "My beautiful bard."

Leliana had to swallow hard. She'd of course heard Lenya tell her that she loved her, but only with Lenya's own language. This was the first time she did so in common language.

"Oh, Lenya," Leliana breathed and pulled Lenya into a tight embrace, "I love you too," She said and then kissed along Lenya's jaw until her lips found Lenya's. The kiss that followed made her head spin and when they finally stopped she was breathless.

Then Leliana moved her hand on Lenya's thigh and felt her legs to spread a little to give her better access, but then Lenya suddenly blushed and turned hesitant.

"Something wrong?" Leliana asked and her hand stopped its movement.

"No…" Lenya shook her head still blushing, "Not wrong as such, but…"

Leliana lifted her brow, "You can tell me, whatever it is you can tell me," She said.

"It's Wynne," Lenya whispered and the blush deepened.

"Wynne?" Leliana asked confused, "What are you talking about, Lenya?"

"I went to talk to her today," Lenya said and Leliana nodded. She knew that Lenya talked with everyone every day, "She apologized of what she said about us."

"That's good isn't it?" Leliana asked still confused of what in that made Lenya blush like a girl who just became a woman.

"Yes it is," Lenya nodded and then lifted her eyes on Leliana's, "She also told me that we… we are…" She blushed again.

"We are what?" Leliana said.

"We are very loud and vocal when we have sex and we keep making her wish that she had someone on her bedroll as well when we are having sex because she hears it through our tent," Lenya burst out suddenly. She spoke so fast that her words seemed to blur together.

Leliana stared at Lenya and then she blushed as well, "Maker…!" She whispered. Of course she'd known they made some noise when they had sex. Lenya's moans drove her wild after all and Leliana doubted she was any quieter herself either when Lenya was pleasuring her.

"She's rather evil old woman," Lenya said quietly.

"It seems so," Leliana said, but then she grinned mischievously, "Let's make her wish she had two men or women in her bedroll," She said and moved her hand on Lenya's thigh again.

"She's slee… Ah! ...ping inside the ke..ah..ep," Lenya managed to say.

"I'll just have to make you more vocal then don't I?" Leliana asked and slid her other hand over Lenya's breast making her moan and at the same time made a questioning move with the hand that rested on Lenya's thigh.

"Creators…!" Lenya breathed and spread her legs inviting her to move her hand there.

"That's my, Warden," Leliana whispered and planted a kiss on Lenya's neck and at the same time lowered Lenya on her back.

* * *

><p><strong>Next morning<strong>

When Lenya and Leliana walked to the fire next morning they got few looks and Alistair turned bright red.

"Morning," Lenya said, "Is there some food because I'm starving?"

"Yes there is," Wynne said and gave a knowing smile at Lenya. She felt her face getting slightly flushed, but she answered Wynne's smile with her own.

"Great," Lenya breathed and went to the cooking area.

"Something wrong, Alistair?" Lenya heard Leliana ask.

"NO!" Alistair quipped startled and then coughed, "I mean no… nothing wrong. Everything is just… Not wrong."

"He left the keep last night and went for a walk outside," Wynne replied and Lenya's eyes snapped wide and she felt a blush deepen in her cheeks. Damned, Leli! - She thought, "He wasn't gone for long before he ran back inside, his cheeks flushed so red that he shamed the tomatoes in color. He refused to say anything and just went to sat in the corner."

"Oh, did he now?" Leliana asked, "I wonder what he saw out there on his walk."

"I wondered that myself, Leliana," Wynne said, "So I went outside myself to find out."

"Did you find out what he saw?" Leliana asked curiously. Lenya took food for herself and Leliana and then she went to sit next to Leliana. By the Creators - She thought, Leliana was not flushed at all. She looked like she had absolutely no idea what Wynne and Alistair had seen or more likely heard.

"Yes, I did in fact," Wynne said, "But it wasn't something he saw, but what he heard."

"And what was it?" Leliana asked and tilted her head pretty much like Lenya had seen Abelas do. Damn she was adorable when she did that.

"There was a rather distinct sound of mating to be heard near the wall where your tent is set," Wynne said.

"Was there?" Leliana asked with her eyes wide, "We didn't hear anything," She then said and Lenya almost spurt her food to the ground. She feigned a cough. By the Creators Leliana was good.

"You didn't?" Wynne asked, "You must have been sleeping like a log to miss that one."

"Yes," Leliana nodded, "We slept very deeply. The day had been very taxing."

"Yes, I understand," Wynne said, "All that resting we did yesterday must have been very tiring."

"Yes!" Leliana nodded enthusiastically and smiled at Wynne. Lenya took a glance at Wynne and saw that the her lips were twitching, but she managed not to burst into a laughter, "What is the plan for today, Lenya?" Wynne asked then.

"Resting…" Lenya started and she heard Zevran start to chuckle and Alistair's near desperate exhale of 'Maker!'. She coughed and vowed she would get even with Leliana… even if she'd had to keep her in bed and ravish… Bad Lenya! - She admonished herself, "Hmm, yes… what I was about to say is that Mikhail said it will take at least two days to repair our armors and a day for the weapons. I also bought new armor for Leliana which need to be fitted so we probably be here for three days still."

"Resting," Zevran snickered.

"That too," Lenya said and was glad that her face did not lit up like a red light this time, "What I want everyone to do is to go talk to Levi and see if he has anything you might need on the days to come."

"What are we going to do when we leave from here?" Alistair asked. His face was still flushed and he avoided looking at Lenya directly.

"Continue to the Spoiled Princess at Lake Calenhad," Lenya replied, "I want to see what kind of trap the fake Weilon was sending us in and clear it out. Then we will continue to this village of Haven or whatever it is and see if we can find these Ashes of Andraste or whatever they are."

"Is it necessary for us to go clean some trap?" Morrigan asked.

"Is it necessary… no, but I have a feeling that it would be unwise to leave the trap there and I hate it when people try to kill me so I want to kill every last one of the whoever is behind the trap," Lenya said.

"Ooh… Aren't we bloodthirsty!" Zevran said.

"Comes with being a Grey Warden," Alistair said with serious expression, "We just can't resist a good pint of blood," He added and the he grinned at Lenya.

"You don't seem to be after it as much as our gorgeous leader is," Zevran pointed out.

"Well… Lenya is special," Alistair said.

"That she is," Zevran agreed and gave Lenya a flirting look.

"Also taken," Leliana said to Zevran and set her empty plate on the ground, "So you my friend have to go to flirt with Morrigan or Wynne."

"I will turn him into a toad if he does that," Morrigan said coldly.

"And I twist his head backwards if he does that," Wynne said equally coldly.

Lenya started to chuckle. Both women should know Zevran well enough now to know that saying something like that to him was an open invitation for Zevran to do a continuous flirting and attempts to have sex with both women.

"Everyone get as much rest as you can because I have a feeling that we won't have much of it for a while when we leave from here," Lenya said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is Chapter 36.**

**After all the excitement in Denerim couple of chapters taking a bit easier seemed fitting. Plus they really needed some new equipment and fixing on the old equipment.**

**There were also few of the conversations I wanted out of the way before starting the Haven story line. Wynne did manage to surprise me in this chapter and writing her was fun. :)**

**I will, however, have to watch out with the fluff so I don't over use it. That may be end up being a hard thing for me since I do love some fluff a lot. :)**

**Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed the chapter.**

**Reviews are welcomed.**


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: ****Chapter 37 is here... finally. The chapter is a traveling one for a change.**

**Firstly I want to apologize for the very long wait, but there was some real life issues I had to deal with and that put a lot of things in hold because I didn't have strength to do them... and that included writing. I am slowly regaining back the lost time, but as the long wait for this chapter shows... it will take time.**

**Anyway, I wish to thank everyone who have read this far and special thanks to those who faved/alerted the story. Extra thanks to those who reviewed.**

**I am still without beta so I apologize for the grammatical errors or inconsistencies you may encounter. Feedback on them is appreciated.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p><strong>Lake Calenhad, outside Spoiled Princess Inn<strong>

Lenya wiped her swords clean of the blood before she sheathed them. Whoever the men that had attacked them were, they were dead now.

"Should we go speak with the innkeeper and tell him that the men that had blackmailed him are dead?" Alistair asked and turned one of the dead men around.

When they had arrived to the inn and went inside to ask about Genetivi the Innkeeper had become very nervous. Leliana had talked to him and he'd told them that he was being blackmailed by someone and that those people had a habit of attacking people who asked questions about Genetivi. Which obviously was true since they had been attacked as soon as they had stepped outside of the Inn.

"Probably," Lenya replied, "Anyone know who these damn fanatics are?" She asked then and searched one of the men. She found nothing that could identify them. They knew that they were religious fanatics because they yelled about killing them in the name of Andraste and they all wore amulets or other trinkets with Andraste's symbol on them, "I mean I know you shems can be nuts about your religion, but even I think these idiots are taking it a bit far."

"Lenya!" Leliana exclaimed at Lenya and she turned to look at her.

"Lethallan," Lenya said and smiled at Leliana, "Even though I didn't mean to include you in the nuts category I still do think you are nuts about the Maker. It hasn't changed even if we sleep together now," She added, "Nor has the fact that I don't like this Maker of yours much. I am just a little bit more tolerant these days."

"Hrmph…" Leliana pouted, but she didn't look angry at her. She did look rather adorable when she pouted like that.

"I have to agree with Lenya," Alistair said, "These guys seem to be more than a little crazy with their belief in Andraste."

"Well… that's true," Leliana admitted and turned one of the attackers around with her boot, "Like Alistair said we probably should go tell the innkeeper that he doesn't have to worry about these guys anymore."

"Agreed," Lenya nodded, "Rest of you go through the bodies of these idiots again."

"You want to continue forward without stopping here?" Alistair asked.

"Yes," Lenya nodded, "We've been resting way too much lately and I doubt the darkspawn have done the same so we better get on with the saving this damned land before it is too late."

"I thought you might feel so," Alistair nodded, "You think we should visit the tower while we are here?"

"Why?" Lenya asked.

"To get more of Lyrium dust," Alistair replied, "I know we got a lot of it from the dwarves and we haven't fought against the darkspawn much lately, but wouldn't it be good to be prepared just in case?"

"If you think we will need more of the dust, take Wynne and go get it," Lenya shrugged, the idea was a good one and she was rather proud of Alistair for thinking about it. Maybe he started to learn after all.

"Me?" Alistair asked surprised.

"Yes," Lenya said and didn't even try to assure him that he could do it. He had to be able to do things without hand holding. Without watching if Alistair really were going to do what he'd suggested Lenya walked back to the inn with Leliana.

* * *

><p>Alistair stared after Lenya and then shook his head. This had to be one of those lessons Lenya was trying to hammer into him. He knew that they would have had less trouble with the Templars if Lenya had gone to the tower. Greagoir respected Lenya even if he probably cursed her into the pits of hell as well. Alistair was not so sure what Greagoir thought of him or if he even wanted to know.<p>

"Shall we go meet the templars and mages?" Alistair asked from Wynne then.

"You really should try to sound more confident, Alistair," Wynne said, "You are a Grey Warden and with that title comes responsibilities, but also recognition."

"I haven't noticed people recognizing us much… until Lenya speaks to them and saves their hides," Alistair snorted, "Without that it is a wonder they don't spit on us."

"Ferelden has a… troubled past with the Wardens that is true, but there are still people who know what your order does for them everyday and it is up to you to make the rest of them to see what they owe you," Wynne said, "Lenya knows this, but you are still finding your path I think."

"She is doing rather fine job of beating my head with that though," Alistair chuckled a bit.

"Yes… her methods of teaching are… a bit harsh," Wynne said, "But I can't deny the results she gets with them."

Before turning back to Wynne Alistair waved at the ferryman that they required a boat to take them to the island.

"I have noticed that you are not disapproving Lenya and Leliana anymore," Alistair said then, "Did something happen?"

"You could say that," Wynne smiled at him, "You might say that this old woman saw the error of her thinking."

"You apologized from her, didn't you?" Alistair asked a bit surprised.

"Why is it that you young people think that I am incapable of admitting that I was wrong?" Wynne asked curiously.

"I don't know…" Alistair shrugged, "Maybe it is because you seem so stern and sure that you are right..." He continued and then noticed what she was saying, "... sorry, sorry… I didn't mea…"

Wynne laughed at him and then patted at his cheek, "You are adorable, young man," She said, "Were I a bit younger…" Wynne said and gave Alistair a look that made him uneasy.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Alistair asked panicking a bit.

"Oh, no reason," Wynne smiled at him and then climbed in the boat.

Alistair stared at her and then muttered a mantra that was becoming very familiar for him, "Evil women!"

"Are you going to get on board or not, young Ser?" The ferryman asked impatiently.

"I'm coming," Alistair said and stepped onto the boat.

* * *

><p><strong>Forest trail leading up to the Frostback mountains, four days later<strong>

Alistair didn't like it much when they had turned away from the large road and left the more civilized world behind them. He didn't trust at the map they had of this area nor did he trust the source of their directions to this Village in the mountains. Not to mention that this Brother Genetivi had disappeared while on his way there.

It had been however quite fascinating to watch Lenya when they had entered the forest. Lenya claimed that she didn't have any true skills at moving in the wilderness, but somehow Alistair had the feeling that she hadn't told them the truth or if she really thought herself bad at it then Alistair really had to wonder how good the good Dalish were.

Whatever the case was it was clear that Lenya was really at home here. Only other one who seemed so was Morrigan. The rest of them seemed more or less out of place there. Leliana less and the rest of them more. Shale muttered curses to the birds as she walked. Sten was silent, but even Alistair could see he didn't like to be in here. Oghren kept muttering curses and occasionally attacked a tree that had slapped a branch on his face or poured water on him. Alistair himself didn't mind the forest so much, but he really felt that he was outsider in here.

Wynne, however, seemed to enjoy the forest, but moving through it was hard for her. Alistair noticed that Lenya had seen that as well and somehow Lenya managed to adjust their speed so Wynne didn't get left behind. This new thoughtfulness towards Wynne was surprising development in the relationship of those two.

The one who puzzled Alistair the most was Zevran, "You don't seem to share Lenya's enthusiasm about the forest," He said to the assassin finally.

"What?" Zevran asked and turned to look at him, "You think that because I am an elf I should like to wander in this forest?"

"Well… I guess, yes," Alistair said.

"Nothing could be further from the truth, my friend," Zevran laughed, "When I was a young elven lad I once ran off from the city and to the Dalish clan that was near the city."

"And what happen then?" Alistair asked curiously.

"Let me just tell you that the reality of the Dalish was nothing what I had imagined my mother's people to be," Zevran said, "And I ran back to the city very, very quickly."

"Just shows how big of an idiot you are, Zev," Lenya turned to say to Zevran.

"Perhaps if there had been a gorgeous woman like you in there I would have stayed," Zevran said and held his heart theatrically, "But alas it was not meant to be and I had to return to the glorious Antivan city."

"I think I would rather stab myself than return to anything the shems call cities and I definitely question your sanity when you call one of those glorious," Lenya muttered.

"Ah, but you have not really experienced the city life, my friend," Zevran said, "There is nothing like it in the world. The sounds, the smells and the colors."

"Don't remind me of the smells," Lenya said and Alistair almost could see how her face turned green, "The air shouldn't smell like something died in it and got eaten and then got vomited out again and then got used as a waste bin," She said and then she drew a deep breath through her nose, "This is what air should smell like. Clean."

"As much as I like the cities I have to agree with her," Alistair said, "The air here smells much better than the air in the city."

"It is sad thing that the Wardens lose their sense of smell like that," Zevran said.

"I happen to agree with Lenya and I'm not a Warden," Leliana said.

"Ah, but you have been inhaling and drinking the Warden lately," Zevran grinned.

"I don't think that counts as becoming a Warden, Zev," Lenya chuckled, "You just have to admit that you are wrong and I am right and then we can continue our glorious quest through these fine forests," She added amused.

"My gorgeous friend, nothing would please me more than to do as you say, but alas a cruel fate denies me from agreeing with you," Zevran said and pressed his hand over his heart.

"And what cruel fate is that then?" Leliana asked curiously.

"I miss Antivan leather," Zevran said.

"You miss… is that some sort of euphemism?" Leliana asked looking suspicious.

Zevran laughed, "It could be, but in this case it is not," He said, "The place where the Crows kept us young boys was next to the leather workers and I got used to the smell of the leather there."

"No wonder you think cities smell good," Lenya said, "You got your sense of smell destroyed when you were just a little boy… very sad fate," She added and patted Zevran's cheek with her hand and then turned to look to the mountains again, "We better continue our journey or we will be in these forest for eternity."

"It is nice that she teases someone else than me for a change," Alistair said to Wynne when they resumed their walking.

"She teases everyone equally, dear Alistair," Wynne said, "You are just the easiest target because you blush so easily."

"Tell me about it," Alistair snorted, but then he felt a whisper in the back of his head and quick glance at Lenya told him that she'd sensed it too.

"Darkspawn?" Wynne whispered and Alistair nodded. Their companions knew by now the signs to look for in Alistair and Lenya to know without saying they had sensed darkspawn.

"I can't tell where they are," Lenya whispered when Alistair caught up with her.

"Me neither and it worries me," Alistair said. They should be able to tell the direction if nothing else of the darkspawn, but the sensation this time was like a distant whisper.

"Could be just one of them there and that's why it is so faint?" Lenya suggested.

"I've never heard darkspawn moving alone," Alistair said.

"Maybe it got lost from others or the others got killed," Lenya said, but Alistair heard from her voice that she didn't believe in what she was saying, "Okay," She then said and turned to speak to others, "We can sense darkspawn, but for some reason we can't tell where the spawn are or even in what direction. So everyone be ready and tell me as soon as you see something unusual," She continued.

"Dear Warden, everything in this forest is unusual for me," Zevran smiled.

"You're sodding right there, elf," Oghren agreed with

"Then you two just need to try to figure out which one is bad unusual and which is good unusual," Lenya replied, "Just don't come telling me about every squirrel you see."

"What a sodding thing is a squirrel?" Oghren asked looking confused.

"That one," Lenya said and pointed at the tree they were standing under. Everyone looked up, but even though Lenya pointed at the small animal it took a bit before Alistair actually saw it, "I'll take point and Alistair takes the rear," Lenya said then while everyone was still staring at the small animal at the tree, "No one wanders away alone until we know where the hell these stupid spawn are and take the taint preventing potion now so you don't have to do so when we are getting attacked and I will be very unhappy if I have to kill you because you though to save the damn potion for later."

"Yes, Lenya," They all answered almost in unison and everyone, even Sten, seemed to try and stand in attention.

"Okay then, we move as soon as you have taken the potion," Lenya said and she turned to look around.

* * *

><p><strong>Two hours later<strong>

The constant sense of darkspawn had started to remind Lenya of the background taint in the Deep Roads and she had started to wonder if there were Deep Roads entrance somewhere near.

They had just walked into a clearing when the sense of the spawn suddenly became very clear. There were four genlock, six hurlocks and one bigger hurlock in front of them. This bigger one felt ancient and it was…

"Watch out!" Lenya yelled when her templar sense recognized a spell being cast. She was a little late however and just when they all started to scatter a fireball exploded in their midst throwing Lenya herself backwards. She could feel the runes in her armor countering the heat, but she knew it wouldn't be enough to prevent her from getting burns.

Then as soon as it had started, the heat and the flames disappeared and Lenya could feel her burns heal and something soothing surround her.

She turned to look around and saw that the others were similarly healed. Then she saw Wynne standing straight up and there was a white light surrounding her. Whatever it was that doused the flames and healed them was coming from Wynne.

"Stay with her," Lenya ordered Leliana and then she herself started to run towards the darkspawn. She was not the first to reach them though. Shale was already in their midst and she'd killed three of the spawn already. The fireball obviously had not even slowed her down.

While running Lenya poured a lot of her energy into a Smite and hit the spell casting hurlock with it. She felt how the Smite drained her energies and then she saw the big hurlock stagger when those energies she'd drawn from herself were released on it.

The fight didn't last long after the big hurlock lost its ability to cast spells. The darkspawn had expected them to die from the fireball and they certainly had not expected to meet a golem who literally stomped them into the ground.

When the last spawn died the light that had surrounded Lenya disappeared and she saw how Wynne collapsed from exhaustion. Leliana who'd been guarding her caught Wynne before she hit the ground.

"How the hell did they manage to surprise us like that?" Alistair asked and stared at the big hurlock, "I've never heard darkspawn being able to hide themselves like that."

"Maybe it's something they can learn when they live long enough, because this one felt ancient," Lenya suggested and the whole idea made her uneasy.

"I really don't like the sound of that," Alistair said and Lenya nodded

"How is she?" Lenya asked from Leliana who still held Wynne's unconscious body in her lap.

"She's unconscious," Leliana replied, "Whatever she did drained a lot of her energy."

"Okay, we need to camp then, but I still get a sense of darkspawn here so either we need to find out where it comes from or go away from here," Lenya said, "Alistair, see if you can find the entrance to the Deep Roads and if you can seal it."

"Just how do you think I can seal a cave?" Alistair wanted to know.

"Take Shale with you and collapse it or something," Lenya said, "You don't need to block it permanently, but well enough that it would take the spawn longer than a day to unblock it."

"It wants me to go with the Tinman?" Shale asked.

"Yes, I think he will need your strength," Lenya replied.

"Very well," Shale said, "Lead the way, Tinman," She then said to Alistair.

Alistair shrugged and then he seemed to be listening, "That way," He said after a while and then he left the camp with Shale.

"Okay, lets see if we can move Wynne away from these darkspawn corpses," Lenya said, "Morrigan, go see if you can find us a place where we can set the camp."

"As you wish," Morrigan said and then she turned into a bird and flew into the sky.

"We might have to be here awhile so someone get me some water and someone make a small fire, just in case we need to heat it," Lenya ordered then.

* * *

><p><strong>About <strong>**two**** hour****s**** later**

When Alistair and Shale returned to their makeshift camp Wynne had not woken up yet. The old mage breathed effortlessly, but had not regained consciousness.

"Did you find anything?" Lenya asked when Alistair sat next to her.

"Yes," Alistair nodded, "There is a rather large cave near here and the sense of darkspawn near there was very strong."

"Strong enough to hide the ones that attacked us?" Lenya asked.

"If they remained underground until the last minute I suppose it could be possible," Alistair replied.

"Like the ones in the Deep Roads?" Lenya asked, "The ones that first tried to take Leliana and Morrigan with them."

"I suppose it could be similar, but wouldn't you still know about them?" Alistair asked, "I know I can't sense them when they get all sneaky and bury themselves underground."

"I probably could have if I'd known mere presence of Deep Road entrance would cause such widespread sense of the taint here, but even then… I just don't know," Lenya sighed frustrated. She felt like she'd failed her companions. Just like she'd done in the Deep Roads and just like then someone else than herself had almost paid the price.

"It's not your fault," Alistair said, "No one can ask you to do more than you can do."

"You're nice to say so, but that's not true," Lenya said, "I can ask more from me than I can do."

Alistair stared at her a moment and then rolled his eyes, "I can't help you on that," He said, "Anyway, the entrance is now blocked, but I can't say for how long."

"No problems blocking it then?" Lenya asked them.

"No," Alistair said, "At least I didn't notice any problems and Shale was… amazing really. She collapsed the tunnel like it was nothing."

"Tinman is too kind," Shale said, "However, crushing the stone is not nearly as satisfying as squishing you soft things."

"So no problems then?" Lenya asked again and now directly from Shale.

"No," Shale replied, "I only had to break few supporting stone formations and the whole cave collapsed."

"We did check around the area for another entrances, but there weren't any we could find," Alistair said.

"So we should be safe enough to camp near here then?" Lenya asked.

"I'd say so, but I can't be entirely sure of it," Alistair said.

"We never can, but we can't do anything about that at the moment," Lenya said, "It does mean that we are not sleeping much though. I want both of us to stay on guard now."

"As you wish," Alistair said, "Do you have a campsite for us or are we going to camp right here?"

"I sent Morrigan to find us a place to camp, but she hasn't returned yet," Lenya replied.

"Let's just hope she just didn't fly away and leave us here," Alistair muttered.

"I don't think you can get rid of her that easily," Lenya chuckled.

"The witch is returning," Shale said then like emphasizing Lenya's words.

"Figures," Alistair said as they watched how Morrigan landed near them and then changed back to herself.

"There is a small clearing not far from here," Morrigan said, "There's clean water near and I couldn't see any darkspawn near either."

"How far is not far?" Lenya asked.

"Half an hour, hour at most," Morrigan replied and then she looked at Wynne's unconscious body, "Hour if you need to carry the schoolmistress."

"Okay, we leave at once then," Lenya said, "Shale, could you carry Wynne to the new camp?" She asked then.

"Yes," Shale replied and then Lenya lifted Wynne from the ground and handed her to Shale.

"Thank you," Lenya said and then gave orders to others to remove the makeshift camp and move out.

* * *

><p><strong>Later<strong>

Wynne opened her eyes and immediately felt like she'd wrestled an ogre. The soothing presence in her mind seemed relieved that she'd woken up finally.

She blinked more to clear her eyes and then she looked around her. She was apparently resting in her own tent, but she was not alone. Leliana sat there with her and studied her.

"Leliana?" Wynne asked and her throat felt parched.

"Yes, Wynne," Leliana said and brought a bowl of water to Wynne's lips. She thirstily tried to gulp the whole bowl, but Leliana only let her take slow sips, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I'd wrestled with an ogre and for some reason like I'd slept on rocks," Wynne replied.

"Don't know how wrestling an ogre feels, but I can ask Lenya about it," Leliana smiled, "As for sleeping on the rocks… that might be because Shale carried you here."

"Where is here and how long I've been out?" Wynne asked worriedly. She would hate it if she'd delayed their journey.

"We are about hour's journey away from the place where we got attacked and you saved us and you have been out for half a day," Leliana replied, "Or some of the day and almost whole night would probably be more accurate."

Wynne sighed in relief, half a day was not nearly as bad as she'd feared, "Did anyone get hurt?" She asked then.

"No, whatever you did back there seemed to heal our burns and then we killed the darkspawn… well mostly Shale killed them, but they did get all killed or stomped on," Leliana replied.

"That's good," Wynne breathed and closed her eyes, "I was worried there for a moment when I…" She stopped and tried to find words on how to explain what she'd done, "... called the spirit within me to aid us and then realized it drained both me and the spirit, but I couldn't stop it at that point anymore."

"It felt like soothing light had enveloped us," Leliana said, "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, young lady," Wynne said, "We all do our part."

"I guess we do," Leliana smiled.

"Speaking of doing our part…" Wynne said, "Why are you here sitting with me and not guarding the camp with Lenya?"

"Lenya's orders," Leliana said, "Lenya and Alistair have both been on guard the whole night with Shale and Abelas and Morrigan has been watching things from the air. The rest of us were ordered to stay at camp and for me; she told me to stay with you in case you needed something."

"Ah…" Wynne said, "She doesn't take chances with the spawn then?"

"No," Leliana shook her head, "She blames herself for not being able to sense the darkspawn in time to prevent the fireball exploding in our midst and for you to need to… do whatever you did with the spirit there that rendered you unconscious."

"Of course she does," Wynne said, "That young woman carries the weight of the world with her and she doesn't like to share."

"You've noticed that then?" Leliana asked sarcastically, but there was a bit of frustration behind her voice as well. It couldn't be easy for Leliana to watch from the side when Lenya was a Grey Warden. Wanting to support her, but not fully understanding what being a Warden meant. Wynne had started to suspect that only Warden's would really know.

Wynne also suspected that Leliana might be a little jealous of the bond that Lenya and Alistair shared. It was something she could never share with Lenya unless she became a Warden herself.

She lifted her hand and rested it on Leliana's hand and gave it a little squeeze. It was only a little gesture to show that she understood, but Leliana's eyes was filled with gratitude and she smiled at her. At that moment Wynne understood what Lenya saw in Leliana. For a brief moment Leliana's whole soul was visible in her eyes.

"Thank you," Leliana said finally.

"You're welcome, my dear," Wynne said, "The path you've chosen with Lenya is not an easy one, but I… I believe you are strong enough to walk it."

"Tha… Thank you," Leliana said and then she looked up, "What about Lenya, is she strong enough to walk it?" She asked and she sounded a bit worried.

"With her…" Wynne started and the she shook her head, "I have never doubted that she is strong enough. She has a center made out of silverite and a will stronger than anything I've ever seen," She said and then sighed, "Remember when I told her what I thought about her relationship with you?" She asked then.

"Yes…" Leliana said, "That could have gone better."

"I don't think it could have gone any other way than it did," Wynne smiled, "Even then I wasn't worried about Lenya, but for you. Which, I think was the worst mistake I have made with her."

Leliana's brow wrinkled and then she asked, "But… why?"

"Why I wasn't worried about her?" Wynne asked and Leliana nodded, "I didn't see her as a person back then, but as a Warden and only a Warden. They are above things that affect the rest of us or so I've managed to delude myself to think," She explained. Thinking back now she felt foolish about that, but apparently age did not necessarily remove all the effects of the fancy stories she'd heard and read about while growing up in the tower. Warden's had all seemed so great and mysterious to her.

"That's… that's horrible," Leliana said and there was anguish in her eyes, "She's not just a Warden," She added then and Wynne wondered if that was something Leliana had thought about Lenya as well, but it didn't seem likely. It might be something to do with Lenya being an elf. She had heard Leliana speaking to Alistair about her own mistake of treating Lenya differently because she was an elf. Even though she had not done so on purpose. Perhaps it was the same as her treating Lenya only as a Warden.

"Yes, it is horrible," Wynne agreed, "And no she isn't just a Warden, but that was how I saw her. Not as a woman with feelings or worries, but as a Warden with everything I thought they are and when you get older you tend to think that you know everything or that you at least know things better than the people that are younger than you are."

"Yes… Lenya had muttered curses about that a few times," Leliana said a bit embarrassed.

"I can imagine," Wynne laughed, "I heard she promised Irving that she will not behead me if she gets too annoyed about me, but just leaves me standing beside the road," She chuckled, "Not quite sure which I'd prefer though."

"I don't think you have to worry about it anymore," Leliana said, "You seem to… get along now," She added.

"Perhaps," Wynne said, "I wouldn't write it off completely yet though," She added amused, "We are both very stubborn women after all."

"I'll try to keep an eye on the warning signs then," Leliana said.

"You do that," Wynne smiled, "Have you heard how me and Lenya met for the first time?"

"You mean at the Ostagar?" Leliana asked and Wynne nodded, "No, I've not heard it," She shook her head, "How did it go?"

"Not very well, but I don't think any human in Ostagar could say their meeting with her went any better," Wynne chuckled, "Mine went better than the quartermasters though."

"How so?" Leliana asked.

"Well, he called Lenya a servant when he saw her," Wynne replied and she saw Leliana's eyes widen, "I think his exact words were, "Hey, you there elf! Where's my armor? and then he grabbed Lenya's arm."

"Oh my!" Leliana breathed, "Did she kill him?" She asked. She could easily see imagine Lenya cutting the head of from the poor man.

"No, but I don't think the quartermaster really understood how close he was about losing his head," Wynne said and smiled at the memory. She had seen and heard the exchange between Lenya and the quartermaster and had even been ready to go and try to stop Lenya from killing the man if needed. When she had seen Lenya unsheathe her dagger and placing it under the man's chin she had known she would have not been able to stop her. That young woman was fast, really fast with her weapons.

"What did she do?" Leliana asked.

"Give me more water and I tell you," Wynne said, "I can also tell you things I heard others in the camp tell, but I hadn't witnessed myself."

"You also haven't told me how your own first meeting with Lenya went," Leliana reminded her when she gave her more water.

"True," Wynne smiled, "Make yourself comfortable," She suggested then and after Leliana had done so she started to tell her what she'd heard about Lenya at Ostagar.

* * *

><p><strong>Later that morning<strong>

Lenya, Alistair, Abelas and Shale returned to the camp when the morning light was strong enough to see things clearly. They had been up over a day now, but oddly enough Lenya didn't feel tired. Maybe it was the forest where they were that invigorated her.

Lenya stopped when a raven landed in front of her and then started to change.

"There's only animals moving around us at the moment," Morrigan said when her change was complete.

"Good," Lenya nodded, "We can then at least eat breakfast before we continue moving."

"I could kill to get something to eat," Alistair said.

"Me too," Lenya smiled and then she let out a delighted laugh, "And it seems someone has guessed we might need food," She said when she saw Leliana near the fire stirring something in a kettle.

"I could kiss her," Alistair said.

"If you do that I will chop your head off," Lenya said without taking her eyes of from the woman she loved or from the food she was preparing, "But I can kiss her for both of us."

"Our brave guardians arrive, Leliana," Wynne said. She was sitting near the fire and watched Leliana.

Leliana turned to look at them and when she saw Lenya, her lips curved into a smile, "I thought you might want something to eat."

Lenya approached Leliana and then pulled her into a kiss and she didn't let go of her for a quite a bit, "Thank you, emma lath," Lenya said when the kiss ended.

"You're welcome, mon amour," Leliana said and brushed Lenya's cheek gently with her hand.

"Thank you on my behalf as well, Leliana," Alistair said, "I'd kiss you, but Lenya threatened to cut my head off if I do that so you'll just have to settle with thank you."

"You didn't?" Leliana asked from Lenya.

"You're mine," Lenya said and her eyes flashed blue.

"Am I now?" Leliana asked and bit her lower lip in flirting manner.

Lenya leaned closer to Leliana and brushed her lips against Leliana's, "Keeper of my heart, you are mine like I am yours," Lenya said in her own language.

"I don't know what you just said, but it was beautiful," Leliana said and kissed Lenya.

A clattering sound from the food kettle brought them both back to the present. Alistair was standing near the kettle looking embarrassed, but he still didn't stop filling his bowl with food.

"We continue this later, but now I need to go and get something to eat before he eats everything," Lenya whispered to Leliana.

"Go," Leliana smiled.

"Hey! Leave something to me you drooling shem!" Lenya yelped at Alistair.

"Oh you want some of this?" Alistair asked, "I thought you were going to eat something else entirely," He added and stuffed a bread in his mouth. Alistair's words hit home and Lenya felt her cheeks getting warm and she cursed in her mind. She wouldn't hear the end of this.

Alistair let out a delighted laugh, "Really, Lenya, are you actually blushing?"

"No," Lenya said, "It's heat from the fire."

Alistair looked at the fire and then back to Lenya, "It is very impressive fire, but I don't think it could warm your face from all the way there," He said amused.

"Regardless of how small it is it did," Lenya said trying to sound indifferent as she filled her bowl with food.

"Yeah sure… bad fire," Alistair laughed and went to sit on the other side of the said fire.

"Of all the times when he manages to say all the right things it had to be now?" Lenya muttered when she sat next to Leliana.

"Yes, who knew he had it in him," Leliana smiled, "You are rather cute when you are blushing though," She added and kissed Lenya's cheeks.

"Now don't you start as well, ma vhe'nan" Lenya muttered and turned to talk to Wynne, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, much better," Wynne replied, "Thank you."

"I believe it's us who needs to thank you and not the other way around," Lenya said.

"Just doing my part," Wynne said.

"Regardless," Lenya said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, my dear," Wynne smiled, "Are we going to continue our journey today?"

"If you're able to, then yes," Lenya said.

"If you're not going to make us run then I am able," Wynne said, "How about you and Alistair?"

"What about us?" Lenya asked confused.

"As I understand you two have been up for over a day now," Wynne said, "Do you need to rest?"

Lenya raised her brow and then turned to look Alistair who just shrugged, "I think we are good," Lenya said then.

"Doing your part?" Wynne asked amused.

"Something like that," Lenya smiled and then looked around the camp, "Now, if those who had not been on guard duty would pack our camp and get ready to move while we are eating. We leave as soon as everyone is ready."

There was chorus of murmurs acknowledging Lenya's order and then everyone not eating left to pack their tents and belongings.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, chapter 37. The party is on their way to the Haven and hopefully the main story arch will advance on the next few chapters.**

**I have obviously changed things again to better suit what the story needs. Mainly making things a bit more dramatic concerning the attack where Wynne uses the spirit within her to help the party. Now, I don't know if the spawn can hide their sense from the Wardens, but if it is possible to hide the Warden's from the spawn I have to assume it is possible on the other way as well. But since it is not common thing I made the leading darkspawn here a lot older.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**I also hope to get next chapter done at least a little bit faster than this.**

**Reviews are welcomed**


	38. Chapter 38

**A/N: Chapter 38 is done. It's been a while, but finally it is done.**

**After I got last chapter out I was on my way back to the writing, but then Dragon Age Inquisition was released and... well it has take a lot of my time. Still does.**

**Main thing is that Lenya's story is still being written. Slowly, I admit, but it is.**

**Thank you for all who have read it this far and special thanks to those who fave/alerted the story and extra special thanks to those who reviewed.**

**I am still without beta so I apologize for the grammatical errors or inconsistencies you may encounter. Feedback on them is appreciated.**

**Dragon Age and everything you recognize belongs to Bioware and everything you don't recognize belongs to me. Lenya belongs to herself.**

* * *

><p><strong>Frostback mountains, approaching the village of Haven<strong>

Lenya didn't know what it was, but something was making her uneasy as they approached the village Morrigan had told to be here. Air felt heavy and it smelled… something.

It was driving Lenya crazy that she couldn't figure out what made her body react like this. She knew there weren't any darkspawn near so it wasn't that, but there was something bad ahead. She turned to look at Leliana who walked beside her.

Lenya remembered all too well the horror that had went through her in the Deep Roads when the darkspawn almost managed to trick her and take Leliana from her. She would do anything to prevent that from happening again.

"Something is bothering you," Leliana said and brought Lenya back from her thoughts.

"Yes," Lenya nodded.

"What is it?" Leliana asked.

"I would literally kill to find out," Lenya said, "I'm on the edge, I feel like… I don't bloody hell know!" She growled in frustration, "All I know is that there is something bad ahead and it drives me crazy that I can't figure out what it might be and why the hell it is affecting me like this."

"And it is not darkspawn?" Leliana asked calmly. She didn't seem to mind Lenya's outburst.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "I've not felt any spawn presence for two days and the last one I did feel was far away and so weak that I barely could say it was there. Alistair couldn't even sense it."

"Well, the village… if it is this Haven, might be home to those fanatics we killed outside Spoiled Princess inn so I don't think it is odd that you expect bad things from the village," Leliana said.

Lenya snorted, "Like village full of religious idiots could unsettle me," She said, "It is something else, but… ugh!" She sighed.

"But you don't know what it is," Leliana said and put her hand on Lenya's shoulder, "You'll figure it out, I know you can do it."

"I wish I had your confidence, ma vhenan," Lenya shook her head and gave a little smile to Leliana. Talking with her always made Lenya feel better. It didn't remove the damn feeling, but it did make her feel a little better.

"I think your confidence is quite a lot better than mine is, but thank you," Leliana said and then she stopped, "Is that… torch light?" She asked.

"Looks like it," Lenya said and stopped as well, "I so wish I could say it will be nice to get into a village, but this damn place is giving me the creeps."

"Yes, it would be nice to get somewhere warm," Leliana said, "The wind up here is not kind to me."

"Try wearing full plate, lethallan," Lenya said, "I think there is icicles forming inside my armor."

"If they are still inside there when we stop… I melt them for you," Leliana whispered to Lenya.

"I'll hold you to that," Lenya said and then she looked ahead. The village was now visible and she saw a lone guard standing on the path leading into the village. When they approached him the guard studied them and positioned himself so he would block the path.

"What are you doing in Haven?" The guard asked when they stopped near him, "There is nothing for you here."

"Well, that sounds promising," Alistair muttered behind Lenya, "You can practically sense the hospitality."

Lenya ignored Alistair and studied the village behind the guard. It looked like any shemlen village, "So, this is Haven?" Lenya asked and finally focused on the guard. Question was stupid because the man had already confirmed that the village was indeed Haven, but for some reason Lenya couldn't get a read on the man or from the damn village and it annoyed her.

"What do you want?" The guard asked with annoyed voice.

"I would like to ask some questions about the Haven," Lenya said then.

"Ask and be on your way," The guard said.

"How long has Haven been here?" Lenya asked. It was as good question as any and the damn guard started to annoy her.

"Haven has always been here," The guard replied and for the first time he seemed confused, "My family knows no other home."

"Who is in charge of the village?" Lenya asked then.

"Father Eirik is our spiritual leader and guide," The guard replied and Lenya frowned at that. Father Eirik? Her knowledge about the chantry wasn't too good, but she was certain that there were no Fathers in the Chantry. Only Mothers and Sisters and occasional Brother, but no man was ever in a leading position.

"Revered Father?" Leliana asked giving Lenya's thoughts a voice, "I have never heard of this."

"It has always been thus in Haven. We do not question tradition," The guard said with indifferent voice.

"Are your traditions very different from the rest of the chantry?" Lenya asked.

"Our ways are not the ways of the lowlands cities," The guard replied.

This was not going anywhere. The man was like empty page to Lenya, she couldn't get any grasp of what he actually was. He either was a damn simpleton or something was seriously wrong with this place. Or both.

"Have you heard of the Urn of the Sacred Ashes?" Lenya asked then. Better to get that question out of the way and see what happen.

"The Urn is nothing but a legend," The guard said. Well, at least they had heard of the damn thing.

"Brother Genitivi's research suggest it may be more," Lenya said and she studied the guards eyes carefully when she mentioned Genitivi and… nothing there was nothing there. The man started to give her the creeps. No one could be so void of things.

"I do not know who Brother Genitivi is, or what he says. However, I am sure people can convince themselves of anything," The guard said and finally there something Lenya agreed with the blasted man.

"And you don't know if Brother Genitivi has come here?" Lenya asked then.

"No," The guard replied without hesitation.

"Very well," Lenya nodded, "Excuse me."

"You may trade supplies at the shop if you wish," The guard said then, "Then I suggest you and your companions leave."

Lenya nodded at the guard and then they walked past him. When he was out of the hearing range Lenya said, "Well, that wasn't creepy at all."

"I suggest we tread carefully here," Wynne said, "Something is amiss."

"No shit," Lenya said and a shiver went through her.

"Ah, quiet, insular communities," Zevran said, "There's always something nasty going on behind closed doors."

"You always think there is something nasty going on behind closed doors," Wynne pointed out.

"That's because there often is," Zevran smiled, "I hope it involves chains. I hope they ask me to join in," He added and his voice was hopeful.

"Normally I would say go for it, but in here… I have a feeling that if you join in on anything, you won't leave from here alive," Lenya said.

"Exciting isn't it," Zevran chuckled.

"Not really," Lenya said and she couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness the village gave to her. Zevran seemed to notice that Lenya didn't answer him with her usual levity.

They continued walking through the village in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Village of Haven<strong>

They walked past several houses, but saw remarkably few people and those they did see were… creepy. One young man was specially creepy. He kept repeating same verses of poem all over and the way he said them made Leliana's skin crawl.

"I don't like this," Leliana said to Lenya when they approached the building that looked to be a store. It had plaque in front saying so at least.

"Me neither," Lenya replied, "I… I feel like just before something attacks me. This damn place makes my skin crawl.

"That's good," Leliana said, "I would hate it to be the only one."

"Definitely not the only one," Alistair said from behind them.

"Let's go in this store and see what we can learn there," Lenya said, "And hopefully the store owner is more welcoming than the guard was and less creepy than that boy with the creepy poem."

"We can hope," Leliana said, but her voice told them all what they were all feeling. If anything things were probably going to get worse.

Lenya pulled the door open and stepped inside.

"That doorway looks really small," Shale said, "I will remain outside and keep watch."

"Alright," Lenya said, "Thank you," She added and then walked inside.

The store looked like any small store Leliana had seen, but the feeling of uneasiness did not disappear with that familiarity.

A low growl started to come out of Abelas as soon as he followed Lenya inside. The shopkeeper gave Abelas a look that was almost bored. Like menacingly growling mabari were just a minor nuisance.

Leliana heard Lenya talk to Abelas with elvish and then she looked up and Abelas moved. He went straight to the doorway leading to the back room. When the shopkeep saw that he moved to intercept, but he was stopped by a shining starmetal sword that was placed under his chin.

It didn't take long before Abelas returned and he had a bloody gauntlet in his mouth. A nod from Lenya and Abelas brought the glove to Alistair who took it carefully like he was afraid it might explode.

"This… this is the seal of Redcliffe," Alistair muttered stunned and stared first at the glove and then Lenya.

"What have you done to the knights of Redcliffe?" Lenya demanded from the shopkeeper and pressed the tip of her sword to the shopkeepers chest.

"Glory to the blessed Andraste!" The man yelled suddenly and tried to push Lenya's sword out of the way and with his other hand pull his sword out. Lenya took a step backwards and then ran then lunatic through.

"Go see what they had done to the knight," Lenya ordered Alistair when the shopkeeper was dead, "Sten, go outside with Shale and keep your eyes on the villagers. I have a bad feeling that the whole damn village is mad like this one and the others at the Spoiled Princess."

"As you wish, Kadan," Sten nodded and walked outside.

Alistair stared at the glove in his hand for a moment and then he walked towards the backroom door. His posture was clearly reluctant.

Lenya kneeled down and searched the shopkeepers body with practiced ease, "Pendant of Andraste and a ring with a dragon motif," She said when she straightened up again.

"Le-lenya…" Alistair called from the other room and now his voice was visibly shaken, "You… you better come see this."

Lenya walked to the door and Leliana followed her. When they stepped into the next room they saw Alistair standing near the door and he was pale as a ghost. He turned to look at them when they entered and there was haunted expression in his eyes and then he pointed further into the room.

Leliana walked further, but when she saw what was in the room she wished she'd not done so.

"This is bad," Lenya said and walked to the altar at the back wall. How she could do that was beyond Leliana. The altar was covered in fresh blood and dried blood and there were bloody armor bits littered in the corner of the room.

"They sacrificed them?" Alistair asked and his voice was shaking.

"Looks like it," Lenya said and then she called, "Morrigan, Wynne, come here!"

It took a moment before Morrigan and after her Wynne came inside, "What do you wish of me?" Morrigan asked and Wynne said, "Yes, Lenya?"

"Can you tell me if blood magic has been used here?" Lenya asked.

"Perhaps," Morrigan said and walked to the altar and ran her hand over it, "There is traces of blood magic here, but it hasn't been used recently."

Lenya turned to look at Wynne who nodded that she agreed with Morrigan, "This village is not quite what it seems, is it?"

"I think it is exactly what it seem," Lenya said, "It is full of crazed cultists. Just my damn luck."

"How many people do you think there are?" Alistair asked, "And do you think they all will attack us?"

"I would bet my armor for that they will all attack us," Lenya said.

"Surely, not the children?" Alistair asked.

"I'm afraid that even the children," Lenya said and then she returned to the other room, "The villagers have sacrificed the knights in some kind of ritual and I am bloody damn sure they will attack us sooner or later if we don't leave and since we can't leave... "

"Sacrifices?" Zevran asked and Lenya nodded, "I wonder… the crows often made sacrifices of blood, and it gave them uncanny abilities," he continued.

"Great," Lenya sighed, "Some damn blood powered villagers I've always wanted to see," She added and then shook her head, "We need to get to the chantry. That is where the leader of this village is and he is the one we need to take out. I don't think the villagers will stop attacking us even then, but they might lose the fanatical edge if they see their leader fall."

"Or it might enrage them," Zevran said.

"Also possible, but it can't be helped," Lenya said, "If Genitivi came here and if he by some miracle is still alive it is that Father Eirik who knows where he is."

"You don't think he will actually tell us that?" Alistair asked.

"No," Lenya shook her head, "I believe he will fight to the death and then we will search his body for clues."

"Ah… okay," Alistair said.

"And Alistair," Lenya said, "You need to steel yourself, because this will not be pretty," She added, "I hope we don't encounter children, but if we do… they are not harmless and they will most likely try to kill you if they can."

"I… I understand," Alistair said and he looked pale.

"That goes to everyone else too," Lenya said and let her eyes circle them all. Leliana saw that Wynne's eyes were tight. She was steeling herself for the inevitable. Zevran just shrugged and Morrigan looked indifferent. Oghren shook his head and took a big gulp from his flask.

Abelas let out a sad whine and bumped his head on Lenya's leg, "I know," Lenya said to him and ran her armored hand gently over his head, "We'll do what we must," She added and Abelas licked her gauntlets.

Lenya heard Leliana and some others offer prayer to the Maker or Andraste. She knew that the possibility of having to kill children or more likely teenagers unsettled them and even though these were shems and crazy at that it didn't sit well with her either.

"Let's do this," She said then and stepped outside.

* * *

><p><strong>Haven, outside the chantry an hour later<strong>

Lenya turned around and blocked the sword that was about to cut her head off and directed it wide before running its owner through with her other sword.

"These damn idiots doesn't seem to care at all about their fallen," Lenya cursed and pulled her sword from the dead cultist. They had already killed dozens of them, but they just kept coming. Luckily there hasn't been any children amongst the attackers, few young men, barely out of their mother's care, but no actual children.

"How many more of them can there be?" Alistair asked incredulously, "The village isn't that big."

"There's that mountain there, " Lenya said, "Who knows how many of these bloody things are under the ground."

"These are people not darkspawn, Lenya," Alistair pointed out and looked around. There were no enemies in sight at the moment.

"They could have fooled me," Lenya snorted and sheathed her swords, "They bloody hell attack mindlessly like the spawn after all."

"How did they know that you killed the man at the store?" Leliana asked worriedly, "He didn't have time to yell and no one else was at the house, but still they were already coming to attack us when we stepped out of the store and they seem to know it was you personally who killed the man."

"I don't know," Lenya said and turned one of the bodies over with her foot. The dead man's eyes were open and his mouth was frothing. The eyes were really disturbing, the madness was still in them even though the man was quite dead, "You can however ask it from the leader of this merry bunch of lunatics when we go in there," She continued and pointed at the building next to them.

"Please tell me that, that isn't singing I hear from there," Alistair muttered.

"Can't do that," Lenya said, "But I will go inside and ask them to stop that."

"I was afraid you would say that," Alistair sighed, "Let's go finish this," He said and then opened the door to the chantry making the singing louder. Lenya braced herself and stepped through the door and walked inside. She felt the others follow her.

* * *

><p>Inside they were greeted with the singing that slowly faded away when the people noticed Lenya. In any other situation Leliana would have been amused of the effect Lenya had on humans. She wasn't just an elf, but an elf whose very presence demanded for you to respect her. To any human who didn't know Lenya and who were not used to her it came as a shock that an elf could make them feel that way. It always amused Leliana to watch people's reactions.<p>

Not this time though. The Chantry was full of people and only few of them were wearing armor or weapons. There were also more than few children in the room. It had all the signs of it to become a slaughter.

"Now we know where the children are," Alistair muttered and then he added, "Maker help me," His voice was trembling, but it was also determined. He wouldn't like it, but he would follow Lenya's example if it came to killing these people.

"Maker help us all," Leliana said to him and then they stopped. The crowd had parted in front of Lenya and she was now standing in front of a man with somewhat similar robes Revered mothers used. Modified to fit a man instead of a woman. There were other differences as well which probably were not so obvious to anyone, but one who really knew the chantry. He was probably this Father Eirik the guard had spoken off,

"Ah… welcome," The man said to Lenya with pleasant tone, "I heard we had a visitor wandering about the village. I am Father Eirik," He continued and introduced himself with that same tone and studied Lenya from head to toes. Lenya's armor and clothes were covered in blood splatters and there were blood smeared on her forehead and cheek, "I trust you've enjoyed your time in Haven so far?" He asked then. Still with that pleasant tone.

"It's been **bloody** peachy," Lenya replied and emphasized the word bloody, "But I've had enough of this bloody village!" She continued and her voice grew angry, "We're one sacrificial altar, several dead knights and hell of a lot dead fanatics past pretending this damn village is normal," She said and Leliana saw her to shift her balance to make it easier for her to attack. Leliana mirrored that and she felt the rest of their companions do the same. They were all very attuned to Lenya's body language.

The man in the front was not even slightly intimidated of Lenya which was really impressive feat, "Perhaps," He said, "But staying hidden means staying protected - and we must protect Haven and our charges at all costs," He added and made motion with his hand. To Leliana's relief all the non armed people moved away from the floor leaving only the armed ones standing, "We don't owe you any explanation for our actions. We have a sacred duty; failure to protect Her would be a greater sin. All will be forgiven!" He finished the speech and his eyes gained that fanatical gleam everyone in the village that had attacked them had, had.

"Great, more bloody idiots," Lenya said and she unsheathed her swords, "Let's send them to their Maker, whoever he or she might bloody be."

Lenya tried to attack Eirik, but two heavily armed fanatics stepped in front of her and the man, forcing her to fight them instead. Leliana would have wanted to help her, but she had her own fanatics to deal with and since the chantry wasn't too big she wouldn't be able to use her bow.

She blocked a blow with her daggers and easily avoided the follow up attack before slitting the throat of her attacker. To someone who practiced fighting with Lenya almost everyday these fanatics were not a problem.

The fight was short, but brutal. The cultists continued to attack until you killed them. Even large wounds did not stop them from continuing their attacks. Eirik was last to fall and even with his dying breath he tried to claw Lenya's, who just had run him through, face with his hands. Lenya kicked the man and he fell backwards sliding off from the sword that had killed him. Even then he whispered something about Andraste and forgiveness. Leliana was too far away to hear anything else.

"Stupid idiot," Lenya cursed and turned to look at the people still standing around the room, "If you are wise, you will leave now and never come back," She said to the villagers and pointed them one by one with her blood dripping sword, "If I will see you again, I will not be merciful again."

Leliana heard murmurs from the crowd, but none of them was doing anything threatening towards Lenya. Fanatics or no, these ones were not ready to die for what they believed. There was also no sign of that madness that everyone of the killed ones had in their eyes. They probably were not bad people, just ones who had lived with twisted religion for their whole lives.

We do not question tradition - The guards words came to Leliana's mind and she shook her head and sighed. How true that was for everyone.

Whatever the case, the people gave fearful, angry or both looks at Lenya, but then they left the building. Leliana breathed a relieved sigh when the last of them was out of the chantry.

Lenya sheathed her swords and then went to Eirik and started to go through his body for clues.

Leliana went through the bodies of the fanatics she'd killed. There was nothing interesting on their belongings. Another amulet of Andraste, but aside from their arms and armor there was nothing of value there.

When she got up and watched how the others were doing she noticed that Zevran was studying one of the walls with unusual interest.

"What is it?" Leliana asked when she approached Zevran.

"Ah, Leliana my dear," Zevran said, "Just the woman I need," He added and gave her a suggestive smile. He might be the only one who could do that without losing body parts. Not that he would be safe if he ever thought of acting on the flirts he did. Lenya could be… a very jealous woman and truth to be told if Zevran ever tried to act on the flirts he gave Lenya he would lose body parts too. Leliana would make sure of that herself, "Would you look at this wall," Zevran said then.

Leliana studied the wall and from the first look there was nothing extraordinary on it, but it didn't take long before she noticed that the floor next to the wall had been walked upon. There was a clear path on the floor going through the wall.

"False wall," Said and Zevran nodded, "Have you found the release yet?"

"Not yet, my dear," Zevran said, "I was just looking for it."

"Let's see if we can find it together," Leliana said and they got to work of doing just that.

It didn't take long for them to find a release switch and the wall slid away revealing a hidden room behind it.

As soon as the wall had stopped moving they heard a groan from the room.

"Lenya," Leliana called and motioned Lenya to come.

"Secret door?" Lenya asked, "Really?"

"Yes, really," Leliana nodded, "There's someone inside there," She said then and at the same moment they heard another groan from the room. Someone was in pain there.

Lenya walked inside the room and Leliana and Zevran followed her. From the far corner of the room they found an aging man who was lying on a floor. He looked at them with fearful eyes. Leliana could tell that he had been tortured. A shiver she couldn't stop went through her like it always did when she witnessed results of a torture.

"Who are you?" The man asked and then he sighed in defeat, "They… they've sent you to finish it?" He asked with resigned voice.

"Brother Genitivi?" Lenya asked and got down on one knee next to the old man. She seemed to study the man's injuries.

"You're… you're not one of them…" The man seemed to just realise that Lenya was not human nor did she wear the style of clothes or armor they had seen the villagers use, "Thank the Maker," The man sighed then and the relieve in his voice was almost touchable.

Leliana saw the tips of Lenya's ears turn red when the man thanked the Maker and Leliana expected Lenya to snap at the man, but instead of that she asked, "Are you all right?" Perhaps a bit stupid question since the man was in pain and had been tortured, but much better than cursing the Maker Lenya usually did when someone thanked the Maker of things she did.

"What do you think?" The man, Genitivi, asked sarcastically, "Weeks of scant food and water, the torture… oh, I've never felt better!" He exclaimed then.

"Really?" Lenya asked and her voice dripped sarcasm.

Genitivi seemed to notice that his rescuer did not appreciate his sarcasm since he sighed and shook his head, "No," He said and sighed again, "I apologize. I shouldn't be rude. You're here to help," He added and then he seemed to focus on his body, "The leg's not doing so well and… and I can't feel my foot."

"Wynne, can you help?" Lenya asked without turning to even look if Wynne was in the room. She obviously was since she walked past Leliana and went to examine Genitivi's leg.

"I can set the leg and ease some of the pain, but he'll need a lot of rest in order to heal," Wynne said after she'd examined the man.

"I don't have time to rest now," Genitivi exclaimed and brushed Wynne's hands aside or tried to anyway, but Wynne was not so easily denied, "I'm so close. The Urn is just up that mountain," He added and now he seemed to plead for Lenya to order Wynne away.

"Are you insane? You're hurt?" Lenya asked and Leliana almost burst out laughing. Lenya was telling someone they shouldn't do something because they were hurt. The woman who wouldn't stay put even if her head would be missing was telling others to stay put.

"Broken ribs be cursed!" Genitivi exclaimed, "I'm not abandoning decades of research!"

Leliana heard Lenya chuckle, "You're tough old man, aren't you?"

"My faith gives me strength," Genitivi said, "Faith with a liberal sprinkling of curiosity," He added and there was a fire in his eyes. Fire Leliana had often seen in the eyes of Lenya herself.

"Curiosity of what?" Lenya asked.

"Haven lies in the shadow of the mountain that holds the Urn," Genitivi replied, "There's an old temple there, built to protect it," He continued, "The door is always locked," He then said and Leliana heard Lenya groan, but before she had time to say anything Genitivi continued, "But… I know what the key is."

"Thank the Creators," Lenya sighed in relief, "I really would have not wanted to bash my way through some impenetrable door," She added and then seemed to give Genitivi a level look, "Please tell me that you don't just know what the key is, but where it can be found as well."

Genitivi nodded, "Eirik wears a medallion that opens the temple door… I've seen what he does with it," He explained.

Lenya started to dig through her belt pouch and then pulled an intricate medallion, "This medallion?" She asked and from the brightening of Genitivi's face Leliana knew before he answered that this was the medallion in question.

"Yes, that is your key," Genitivi replied excitedly, "Take me to the mountainside, and I will show you," He continued.

Lenya looked at Wynne who was still working on healing magic on Genitivi's leg. She shook her head slightly, but also shrugged like she knew that no amount of talking would keep Genitivi away from the temple he'd been looking for years.

"You're going to be stubborn about that aren't you?" Lenya asked from the man.

Genitivi seemed like he wanted to argue, but then he just smiled sheepishly.

"I thought so," Lenya sighed, "Since Wynne is still healing your leg we have a moment to talk and I have few questions for you… well a lot of questions actually,"

"All right. What's on your mind?" Genitivi asked.

"Do you know about the knights who were sent to look for you?" Lenya asked. Leliana wasn't sure if she hoped some of them might be alive despite the evidence they had seen on the village or if she wanted to know something else. It was most of the time hard to know what Lenya thought. Even for Leliana.

"Yes, of course," A dark shadow passed on Genitivi's face and he shook his head, "How could I forget?"

Genitivi seemed to be collecting his thoughts and Lenya just waited. Finally he continued, "Eirik said they were ambushed, some killed, a few brought back to Haven for questioning," He explained and that dark shadow returned to his face, "He was so self-righteous about it, so smug," Genitivi shook his head, "He seemed pleased that he had tortured and murdered these men."

"Eirik's not going to be bothering anyone for a… well, ever again," Lenya replied, "Well, unless someone summons a spirit and sticks it inside his corpse, but even then I think he would just walk around slowly and…" At that point Leliana touched Lenya's shoulder stopping her from describing things more clearly. Genitivi's face was already starting to turn green. Lenya looked up at Leliana and blushed a little, "Well… anyway, not going to bother people anymore."

"Good. Eirik and his fellows were a blemish in the Maker's sight. If the Maker would even deign to look upon the world that is…" Genitivi sighed, "Let's just talk about something else now, shall we?"

Lenya looked at Wynne who nodded. She had done everything she could, "We better start climbing into that temple now before the villagers I spared decide that they want to die anyway or go to get someone who really wants to die."

"I would not prefer being here if they do that," Genitivi said and a shiver went through him.

"Are you sure you are up for the journey?" Lenya asked.

"It is not that far and… will you let me lean on you?" Genitivi asked and after a brief moment, Lenya nodded.

"It will not be pleasant for you," Wynne said, "Your leg is set and I healed it as much as I can, but you should really rest for it to heal properly."

"For the Urn, any pain is worth enduring," Genitivi said and Wynne shook her head and rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. She did give Lenya a look though that seemed to make tip of her ears turn red again.

"All right. Let's leave now," Lenya said and helped Genitivi up from the floor and then supported him from the other side. Leliana went on the other side and together they helped the old man move. Moving obviously pained him, but he did not complain.

"Alistair, take point," Lenya ordered and then she looked at Genitivi, "If we get into a fight we will have to leave you on the ground. I'm good, but even I can't fight while carrying shem with my other hand."

"I understand," Genitivi nodded.

Then they all walked out of the chantry.

* * *

><p><strong>Mountain trail to the temple<strong>

Luckily there was a decent trail from the Haven to up the mountain. Lenya just hoped this would be the trail that would lead to the temple and not to some ritual sacrifice pit of the fanatics. She wouldn't rule out something like that existing because so far the damn place had been full of crazy people.

Genitivi didn't complain aside from a groan from time to time when his leg pained him more than he could bear. Lenya used supporting him as an opportunity to ask more question from him.

It became clear that the cultists had been meaning to replace Genitivi in Denerim with one of their own people. They had been asking all sorts of personal questions from the old man. To stay hidden these fanatics were going to great lengths. Lenya wondered if that could have actually worked. The Wealon guy they had met in Denerim had not been that good, but with time could they have done it?

Leliana asked questions as well. From the ashes mostly. Lenya herself was a bit intrigued about them, but at the moment they meant her something that could help her fulfill her duty more than a relic from the time when humans and elves had worked together to free themselves from the oppressor. Andraste was revered to elves as well, but maybe a bit differently than she was by the humans.

The wind started to pick up the higher in the mountain they climbed and Lenya really started to wish she were not wearing a full plate armor. Even her extra under tunic couldn't completely keep the cold away.

"How much higher we need to climb?" Alistair yelled a question over the wind. Lenya sighed when she noticed snow in the wind. If they wouldn't get in shelter soon they would need to make one.

Lenya looked at Genitivi who shrugged making her sigh, "Genitivi says that the temple is on top of this peak," Lenya yelled back.

"I didn't…" Genitivi protests.

"They don't need to know that," Lenya said.

"Wonderful," Lenya heard Morrigan mutter behind them, "We can all freeze to death while digging for the bones of a mad woman," She continued and Lenya chuckled even though Genitivi looked horrified of the disrespect Morrigan was showing.

"Not all of our companions believe in the Maker," Leliana said gently to Genitivi.

"I was wondering that," Genitivi said, "Your elven companion here is Dalish isn't she?"

"Yes," Leliana replied, "And no, she doesn't believe in the Maker."

"Nope, we have whole lot of our own gods who doesn't respond to our prayers," Lenya said, "So I have no need for one more."

"I see," Genitivi said and after that he fell silent. Lenya wasn't sure if that was because the wind was getting even stronger or that there was big snow flakes in it and they kept hitting their face, making talking rather hard.

* * *

><p><strong>An hour later<strong>

Lenya was just about to order for them to make camp when the temple just seemed to appear in front of them from the snowstorm. Large doors just jumped in front of them.

Genitivi seemed to liven up noticeably when he saw the doors and he forget his injured leg and hobbled towards the door like an enthusiastic child.

"Here we are," Genitivi exclaimed when he touched the door with almost revered manner, "Give me the medallion, and let's see if I remember.

Lenya groaned at that when she gave the medallion to Genitivi, but she promised to herself that if the man wouldn't be able to get the doors open after they had dragged him up here she would use his sorry body to break them open.

"Yes… you see, it can be manipulated, just like this…" Genitivi muttered to himself as he worked on the medallion in his hands, "And there… a key to open a way," He finally said and lifted the now very different looking medallion to Lenya to see.

"It looks very different opened like that," Lenya muttered.

"Now… where does this go?" Genitivi muttered and started to examine the door. It took him few minutes to find a way to use the key and then the doors opened to them.

Without considering how dangerous it might be Genitivi walked inside. Lenya looked at Leliana who just shrugged before they followed the old man inside.

For a someone with injured leg Genitivi had managed to walk quite a long way inside. His head turning from side to side in awe and he probably had forgot where he was and how dangerous it might be.

He might have a hint of self preservation instincts left since he finally stopped and started to study the vast hall they were now in.

Lenya was impressed about the room as well and on other circumstances she might have wanted to study the place, but at the moment she was more worried about the current residents of the temple.

"What I would give to have seen this hall in its splendor, as it was meant to be…" Genitivi muttered to himself when Lenya walked to stand beside him.

"Yes, yes… get moving, you old geezer," Lenya said to him.

Genitivi seemed to startle when he heard Lenya speak, but then he turned to look at her, "I could not keep up with you with my injuries," He said, "I should be safe; I don't think there are any villagers here."

"Doesn't mean they can't come here later," Lenya said, but she doubted the villagers would come up here. This seemed to be a place where only those who Eirik or someone else with high rank in their cults rank would let come up here.

"Go," Genitivi said, "I will be all right," He added and then smiled at Lenya, "Perhaps my destiny was only to lead you to the Urn."

"Perhaps," Lenya nodded, "Is there anything else I need to know about the temple?" She asked then. If they were going to leave Genitivi here it was only wise to ask things from him now before they left him here.

"It was designed to protect the Urn from those who would steal it, or do harm to it - namely, the Tevinter Imperium." Genitivi said.

Great… that doesn't sound ominous at all - Lenya thought.

"What sort of dangers are we talking about here?" Lenya asked.

"I'm not sure. The legends were never very specific on that point," Genitivi shrugged, "Only the faithful shall lay eyes on the Sacred Ashes; Death and misfortune await the unbeliever" He continued like he was quoting something, "The Maker's gaze has fallen on Andraste's final resting place. He weeps for His beloved, and his wrath at her betrayers endures."

"So it is the wrath of the Maker that strikes the men down?" Lenya asked. She had her doubts on that, but it was never a good idea to just dismiss a warning, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to her.

"That is what the legend says, and Maker may indeed watch this place," Genitivi said and then he continued, "Read between the lines, however, and you'll understand that it is merely a simple truth draped in in hyperbole and metaphor," He explained and then gave a little mischievous look to Lenya, "After all, no one wants to hear; 'Willy toiled for many a year to perfect the curious mechanism that would send a sharpened spike to the arse of the unwary intruder."

"Oh, that sounds pleasant," Lenya laughed.

"I think my decision to stay here was the best one, don't you?" Genitivi asked his eyes sparkling from amusement.

Lenya motioned the others to follow her, before she turned to talk to Genitivi again, "Try not to get trouble," She said to the man.

"I'll be right here if you need me," Genitivi replied and he was already on his way to study something he'd seen on the walls.

Lenya followed him with her eyes for a moment and then shook her head. If any fanatics would find him here they would need to knock him cold to even make him notice them.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there it is, Chapter 38, finally done.**

**Not much to say about the chapter. Village of Haven was... a bit unsettling place when I first played that part of the game and the little boy going with the damn poem still creeps me out.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**And since my hope at the end of the last chapter didn't work at all. No promises this time of how fast I hope to get the next chapter done. :)**

**Reviews are welcome**


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